44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 8, 2023 10:00AM
- Jun/8/23 2:23:29 p.m.
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Before we go to the Minister of Public Safety, I want to remind hon. members that parliamentary language is something we want to respect as much as possible. I understand we get emotional, and it sometimes slips out.
The hon. minister.
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- Jun/8/23 2:23:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at this stage, it is shocking but not surprising that the Conservatives continue to focus on Mr. Johnston, someone who was appointed by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, someone who did much work under the last Conservative government. Despite all of that, they would rather focus on partisan attacks than the actual hard work of fighting foreign interference together.
Mr. Johnston has laid out a path forward to engage Canadians to ensure our national security establishment has all of the tools necessary to protect Canadians. Rather than continue on with these partisan attacks, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada should take the briefing.
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- Jun/8/23 2:24:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday evening, hundreds of thousands of families in Quebec and Canada had a very difficult conversation at the supper table.
The question was this: Will we be able to keep our house? The Bank of Canada increased the policy rate for the ninth time in just under a year, which means that interest rates will rise. The government rightly pointed out that mortgage payments are going to go up by 40%. There is one thing that the government could do to reduce inflation and that is to control spending.
Why does it not do that?
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- Jun/8/23 2:25:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague referred to what happened yesterday evening. While those difficult conversations were happening at the supper table, the Conservative leader was in the House, where I heard him rambling on and on for four hours. He talked about King Henry VIII and the difference between copper coins, silver coins and IPads, but I did not hear him talk about an economic plan for Canada.
The Conservative leader has been on the job for 271 days and he has nothing of substance to offer Canadians.
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- Jun/8/23 2:25:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague has a selective memory. The Conservative leader clearly said that there are two things the government must do. First, it should not create new taxes and, more importantly, it should have a plan to reduce spending and get to a balanced budget.
Why have a balanced budget? That would honour the word of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance who said that deficits add fuel to the inflationary fire.
Does the Deputy Prime Minister still agree with herself, namely that they really need to control spending and, most importantly, aim for a balanced budget for all Canadians?
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- Jun/8/23 2:26:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about balance. We have struck a balance between fiscal responsibility and compassion.
What the Conservatives are proposing is austerity and cuts. Our government is offering a new grocery rebate. Our government is offering subsidies for dental care. Our government is proposing a low-income workers benefit in Canada to support and help workers.
The Conservatives are just not interested in helping Canadians. We are doing all of that and still have the lowest deficit in the G7.
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- Jun/8/23 2:27:16 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebec is grappling with forest fires that are causing 11 times the devastation we have seen for the last 10 years, on average. We are talking about three million hectares and it is only June.
In terms of length of season, intensity and frequency, periods of drought and heat conducive to fires can be linked to climate change, while climate change can be linked to oil and gas development.
Does the Prime Minister agree that fossil fuels are the reason for the fires that are devastating Quebec?
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- Jun/8/23 2:27:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader of the Bloc Québécois for his question. We agree with him. We must do more to fight climate change. There is a clear link between the forest fire season we are currently experiencing in Canada and the use of fossil fuels.
We must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. That is why we will be supporting the motion moved by the Bloc Québécois today in the House of Commons.
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- Jun/8/23 2:28:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I feel like I have gone back in time 10 years. No serious person can deny that oil and gas are to blame for some of the terrible tragedies happening around the world, and increasingly right here, too. This obsession with oil comes at a very high price.
Will the Prime Minister agree to halt all forms of funding, direct or indirect, to the oil companies and transfer the money saved to Quebec and the provinces in order to increase funding for research into mitigating the effects of climate change and the measures required to protect ourselves, particularly when it comes to municipal infrastructure?
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- Jun/8/23 2:29:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, once again, I thank the leader of the Bloc Québécois for his question. I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We are not going to wait until fossil fuel subsidies are completely eliminated.
We are already doing this, so we can make massive investments in public transit, electrification and clean technologies. That is what we did in the last budget. It is what the Conservatives vehemently oppose, even though they claim to believe in technology. When we want to invest in technology, they say we should not invest in technology.
I thank the Bloc leader for his question. We will work with the Bloc on these important issues.
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- Jun/8/23 2:29:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have seen the images of New York's Statue of Liberty completely shrouded in smoke from Quebec's wildfires. It is astonishing to think that 128 million people in the United States are under air quality advisories. The air quality index for New York City peaked at 413 on a scale of 0 to 500 by the end of the day on Wednesday. Figures like these have not been recorded in 20 years.
Climate change knows no boundaries. What will it take for this government to quit spouting hot air and finally take action?
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- Jun/8/23 2:30:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my hon. colleague that we are in the process of eliminating fossil fuel subsidies in this beautiful country we call Canada with the collaboration of his very own party.
We put a stop to international subsidies last year, and we were applauded by NGOs like Environmental Defence and Équiterre and by international organizations like Oil Change International. According to these groups, when it comes to getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies internationally, there are two global leaders: the United Kingdom and Canada.
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- Jun/8/23 2:31:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that would be more believable if the Liberals had not bought the Trans Mountain pipeline and approved the Bay du Nord project.
Listening to the Liberals, it sounds as though everything is sunshine and lollipops. The problem is that the sun is hidden by the smoke. It is getting harder and harder for the Liberals to keep pretending everything is fine when the entire country is burning.
Since 2015, the famous water bombers used to put out fires are not even made in Canada anymore. We are now forced to borrow them from abroad. This government is not prepared to deal with the crises that are coming.
When is this government going to stop subsidizing oil companies and use that money to invest in renewable energy?
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- Jun/8/23 2:31:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the answer is quite simple: We are already doing it. We are investing more than $200 billion in clean technologies and in the fight against climate change. That is half of what the United States, a country 10 times our size, is doing. What is more, we are eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
I agree with my hon. colleague. We need to do more. We need to move faster on both tackling climate change and ensuring we can adapt to it. That is exactly what we are doing on this side of the House.
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- Jun/8/23 2:32:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the IMF reports Canadians have the most indebted households in the G7, with a mortgage default crisis looming. Out-of-control Liberal spending gave Canadians nine bank interest rate hikes in a year. Former Liberal finance minister John Manley said that the out-of-control spending by the Liberals is like pressing the gas while the Bank of Canada is trying to slam on the brakes with its interest rate hikes. Adding another $60 billion of fuel on that inflationary fire is not going to help anybody.
Will the Prime Minister cancel his tanning plans this summer, get to work in this House and rewrite his budget, so Canadians do not lose their houses?
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- Jun/8/23 2:32:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, inflation is coming down. It peaked at 8.1%; it is now 4.4%, and that is better than the United States, Europe and the OECD. It is actually projected to continue coming down to below 3% very soon. It is still too high, but that is why we are investing in affordability. We have lifted 2.7 million Canadians out of poverty. We have created more than 900,000 jobs. In fact, through the workers benefit, more than 4.2 million Canadians are taking home bigger paycheques.
All of this is while maintaining the highest economic growth in the G7 and the lowest deficit.
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- Jun/8/23 2:33:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Conservatives will continue to fight to stop this Liberal-NDP government from putting another $4,200 of debt on the backs of struggling Canadians. Liberals' out-of-control spending gave Canadians the highest inflation seen in 40 years, and that made interest rates go up. The majority of Canadians are only $200 away from insolvency. Any more rate hikes are going to be crippling. This budget would turn Canada into a nation of inflation and higher debt.
Will the Prime Minister end his surf trips, end the phony celebrity tours and rewrite this failed budget, so Canadians can keep their homes this summer?
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- Jun/8/23 2:33:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when global inflation reared its head, the Conservative leader had a solution; it was to invest in cryptocurrency. If Canadians had followed that advice, and sadly many did, they not only would have been reduced, if they had invested in Terra, Celsius or FTX—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- Jun/8/23 2:34:11 p.m.
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I am sorry; it started a couple of questions ago, and I think it is more people talking to each other, so I am going to ask them, if they are speaking with each other, to please whisper, and if they are more than one seat away from someone, to maybe just move over and talk to them at a lower pace, not so loudly.
See how I am speaking quietly? I want everybody to talk quietly to each other, if they are not answering or asking questions.
The hon. government House leader has about 25 seconds.
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- Jun/8/23 2:34:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if that advice was not bad enough, they got something new. It does not matter that Canada is lower than the OECD in terms of its average on inflation, lower than the eurozone, lower than the G7, lower than the United States and lower than the U.K.
It does not matter that we have one of the lowest inflation rates in the world. They want to solve global inflation by slashing supports to Canadians. They think they can fix global inflation by getting rid of dental care, by getting rid of child care and by attacking the most vulnerable. Not only will it not work, it is shameful.
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