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Ms. Joanne Thompson (St. John's East, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:17:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Sunday marked National Seniors Day, an occasion for Canadians to celebrate the profound contributions of seniors in our homes, communities and workplaces. However, for some, the rising cost of living is making it more difficult to make ends meet. Can the minister of seniors please share how the government is ensuring that all seniors can enjoy a secure and dignified retirement?

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Hon. Seamus O'Regan (Minister of Labour and Seniors, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:17:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would add congratulations from someone who has known you for 35 years, since we were young students at Forum for Young Canadians. We always knew you would go places, and indeed you did. Although it is a few years off for you and I, it is good to know that we raised old age security by 10% for seniors 75 and older. We raised the guaranteed income supplement by up to $947 annually for single low-income seniors. We launched the age well at home initiative to help more seniors age in their homes and communities. Our work is far from done, but as minister for seniors, my priority remains affordability.

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Mr. Don Davies (Vancouver Kingsway, NDP)

Oct/3/23 4:18:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, speaking of affordability, Canadians have seen what happens when Loblaws is left unchecked: price-fixing and gouging. Now, Galen Weston is turning his sights to health care by expanding Shoppers Drug Mart private clinics. Experts are warning that huge corporations put profits before patients. It is the government's job to prevent this. What is the Liberal plan to ensure that rich CEOs like Galen Weston do not gouge Canadians for health care like they do with food?

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Hon. Mark Holland (Minister of Health, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:19:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me add my voice in congratulating you. It is wonderful to see you in that role. I will say this to my hon. colleague: Ensuring that our public health care system remains public and that it is centred on making sure that everybody who needs health care is provided it, regardless of their circumstance, is at the core of everything we do. We have taken historic action on reducing drug prices. We are going to continue that. In fact, when we look at the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, we have been able to see almost $3.5 billion in savings for Canadians in reducing drug costs. We have taken historic action on patent drugs—

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The Speaker

Oct/3/23 4:19:39 p.m.
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The hon. member for Edmonton Strathcona.

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Ms. Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona, NDP)

Oct/3/23 4:19:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Monday was the fifth anniversary of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi officials, yet Liberals stayed silent, and it is no wonder. Under the current government, arms have continued to flow to Saudi Arabia despite the war in Yemen, despite serious human rights violations, and despite the murders of hundreds of Ethiopian migrants. Canadians need to know that their government is not complicit in human rights abuses. Does the minister even know whether Canadian-made sniper rifles were used by the Saudis against Ethiopian asylum seekers? Does the minister have any idea—

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The Speaker

Oct/3/23 4:20:24 p.m.
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The hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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Hon. Mélanie Joly (Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:20:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate you. Congratulations, my dear friend. It is nice to see you in the chair. To answer my colleague's question, of course we will always abide by a strong arms-export treaty where we respect human rights. We will always make sure that is the case and that end users are also taken into account. I look forward to working with her on this very issue.

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Mr. Ken Hardie

Oct/3/23 4:21:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am rising on a point of order. The new broom sweeps clean, so it is said. I am wondering whether now is the time that we sweep clean some of the misinformation coming from that side of the House. We hear references to “Liberal-NDP government” and “Liberal-NDP coalition”, on top of “eight years”, which does not exist. This is— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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The Speaker

Oct/3/23 4:22:08 p.m.
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Order. I would like to let the hon. member know that this is sounding very close to debate, unless the hon. member would like to raise a specific standing order.

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

Oct/3/23 4:24:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today I rise to table a petition on behalf of British Columbians who are calling for more support and better governance in the village of Lytton. On June 30, 2021, wildfires engulfed the village of Lytton and surrounding areas, destroying the town and displacing hundreds of residents. With rebuilding yet to begin, two years later, the business owners in Lytton who accepted CEBA loans have no means of reopening their businesses and repaying those loans. British Columbians in Lytton are calling upon the Government of Canada to recognize their extraordinary circumstances and forgive any amounts owed by Lytton area business owners on Canada emergency business account loans.

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Ms. Leah Taylor Roy (Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:25:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to present a petition on behalf of residents of my riding in York Region regarding PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They are considered forever chemicals. They are extremely persistent and mobile in the environment, and they last many thousands of years. They have been proven to be a health problem in many different ways. Petitioners are calling on the government to adopt a class-based approach to address all PFAS, listing them in schedule I of CEPA for complete prohibition; to consider exemptions for prohibition only if time limited and fully substantiated; to adopt stringent drinking-water standards for PFAS as a class; and to require research to identify contaminated sites, expedite the remediation and provide public release of research data. They are also asking for further research into PFAS. I am presenting this on behalf of the petitioners, who are very concerned about the impacts of PFAS on the health and well-being of Canadians.

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Mr. Randy Hoback (Prince Albert, CPC)

Oct/3/23 4:26:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise to present six petitions signed by 204 residents of the riding of Prince Albert. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to delay its expansion of medical assistance in dying.

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Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Oct/3/23 4:26:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition on behalf of petitioners who, first of all, recognize that the overdose crisis is one that is a public health emergency. The petitioners note that more than 26,690 people have died of opioid-related causes since 2016. They also note that organizations including the Canadian Public Health Association, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the World Health Organization and the United Nations have all recommended drug decriminalization. The petitioners then call on the Government of Canada to, first of all, declare a public health emergency as it relates to overdose deaths from poisoned drugs. They call on the government to reframe this crisis as one that is a public health issue and not a criminal one. The petitioners go on to list the need for a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach, such as one that has already been recommended by the expert panel to Health Canada, and they call for the decriminalization of poisoned drugs in Canada.

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Mrs. Sherry Romanado (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Lib.)

Oct/3/23 4:27:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand.

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Stand
Ask

The Deputy Speaker

Oct/3/23 4:28:02 p.m.
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Is that agreed? Some hon. members: Agreed.

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Mr. Kyle Seeback (Dufferin—Caledon, CPC)

Oct/3/23 4:28:25 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-56

Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk today about Bill C-56, which is the Liberal-NDP government's attempt at dealing with the affordability issue. To talk about the legislation itself, we first need to look at where we are in this country, and it is not a very pretty picture. If we look at where we are right now, mortgage payments over the last eight years have virtually doubled in this country from coast to coast to coast. We have a similar issue now with rent all across the country. If we look at the average rents being paid now, that amount has also virtually doubled. This is the track record of the Liberal government, which now suddenly seems to be concerned about affordability for Canadians. However, the bad news for Canadians does not stop there. It used to take 25 years to pay off one's mortgage. Now it takes the average Canadian 25 years to save for their mortgage. Think about what the difference between those is. Some people might say that is not their problem and that this is a young person's problem when they are trying to get into the market. It is bad enough if it is a young person's problem, but it is also affecting average Canadians right here and right now. I was recently informed about a person whose mortgage has come up for renewal. Their mortgage was coming from that nice, low fixed interest rate. People will remember those low interest rates the Prime Minister said were going to be there for a very long time, the interest rates the Governor of the Bank of Canada said were going to stay low for a very long time. Based on that, many people took mortgages with a very low interest rate because it allowed them to have a mortgage payment they could afford. However, as mortgage rates have continued to go up, as the Bank of Canada has continued to raise interest rates in order to fight inflation, average Canadians now have to pay the bill as a result of this. In this particular circumstance, this family has said that it can hold on for about another six months with this increased mortgage payment. They can dig into savings and they can further borrow for about six months, and then they are not going to be able to make the mortgage payments on their home. That is the consequence of eight years of the Liberal government. Inflation is out of control. I hear it all the time in my riding of Dufferin—Caledon. People come up to me in the grocery store and say to me that they now have to only go to the grocery store to shop bargains. They do not actually have a grocery list, because they can buy only what is on sale. This is all they can afford. After eight years of the Liberal government, this is what people are saying to me in the grocery store. It is a shocking turnaround for Canadians. They are having trouble paying their mortgages. They are having trouble buying groceries. They are having trouble heating their homes as a result of the carbon tax. All of these things are making life more expensive for Canadians. There is a simple solution. There are actually two very simple solutions the government could implement right away. Number one is that it could cut the carbon tax. We know that would have an immediate impact, because, as has been said by Conservatives in the House of Commons over and over again, the farmers are taxed on farm produce. As they produce it, they are taxed with the carbon tax. Whether that is for drying the grain, driving the combines or whatever, they are paying a carbon tax. When that crop is harvested, the driver of the truck that comes to pick it up is going to pay the carbon tax. When it goes to be processed, there is a carbon tax. When a truck picks it up to take it to the grocery store, there is a carbon tax. At the grocery store, the carbon tax is heating the grocery store; therefore, the store owner is paying a carbon tax as well. At the end of the day, Canadians cannot afford to pay for food, and they end up saying that they do not even have a grocery list and just go to the grocery store and buy whatever is on sale. If we would have said this to Canadians eight years ago, they would have said that this was not possible. In a country like Canada, food is abundant. We feed the world because we have the best farmers in the world, who are great stewards of the land. If we had said eight years ago that Canadians would only be able to go to the grocery store and shop bargains, that would have been an inconceivable thought, but here we are. After eight years of the Liberal government, that is the sad situation that Canadians find themselves in. It is very difficult to pay the mortgage, very difficult to buy groceries, very difficult to pay rent and very difficult to buy a house. That is the Liberals' record. That is the context that we look at when they bring in this bill. This is not a new problem. Conservatives have been talking about this problem for the last number of years. In fact, the Conservative leader, many years ago, said that the inflationary spending caused by the government was going to drive up inflation, which would then drive up interest rates. He is looking more and more like Nostradamus with that prediction. As for me, 18 months ago, I rose to speak about the impact of the carbon tax on food production. I said that it was going to cause a massive increase in the cost of food, and here we are. The Liberal government cannot therefore claim that somehow this is a new problem, that it was unaware of the problem. It was well aware. It was well forewarned and did absolutely nothing about it. When we look at this particular bill, what is amazing to me is that Liberal members will get up in this House during debate and during question period and talk about how, as a result of tabling this legislation, one developer has said it is now going to build 5,000 rental units. They puff out their chests and say to look at them, look at the amazing things they have accomplished. Well, let us put that into context. According to the CMHC, we will need to build three million more homes between now and 2030 than are planned or scheduled to be built. The plan is that we will build two million homes. We will have to build three million more than that in order to get back some affordability. As I have said a few times in this chamber, I went to law school because I was not good at math. However, what I did before I prepared for this speech is decided to get out my calculator and look at this. I saw that 5,000 units out of the three million we need is 0.0016%. If I had a child come home with a bad grade, and the teacher not only put an F on there but said that my son got 0.0016% on the test, I would not be a proud father. However, somehow these members walk around like they have discovered fire with this plan to build such a small number of houses. It is even worse. To even come up with some of their plan, they had to take from the Conservative leader's plan. With grocery affordability, again, the best thing they could do is cut the carbon tax, which they repeatedly vote against. We know that this would bring the most relief. They also decided they are going to bring in some Competition Act changes, which they also stole from a Conservative member of Parliament's private member's bill. When a government is completely out of ideas, affordability has gone off the scale and Canadians are deeply hurting, what does the government, the brain trust and all of the political advisers they have come up with? Well, they just take what the Conservatives said they were going to do. They have only taken some of it. What we have here is a plan that is not going to do anything to address the affordability crisis that is going on across the country, and there is a real consequence. I spoke about this in question period. For example, there is Paula in B.C., 71, who is retired. She is now saying that she might have to move out of her house because the landlord is going to sell it. She is also facing a 75% increase in rent as a result of that. That is their record. They have not provided solutions quickly or ones that are going to address the concerns of Canadians.

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

Oct/3/23 4:38:22 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-56

Madam Speaker, I am very fascinated when I hear Conservatives talk about affordability. I think of Doug Ford, Mr. X, the $8-billion scheme and the trip they took down to Vegas. They do not remember it, but they were all at the spa at the same time. I would like to ask my hon. colleague about a meeting that was held on June 25, when four Conservatives were flown over to London, apparently paid for by my cousin Dan McTeague, which I find kind of surprising. The total cost of the meal was $4,690 Canadian. They drank one bottle of wine for $818, a second bottle for $265 and a third bottle for $719, and they topped it off with a bottle of champagne for $1,791. I do not know a single Canadian who has ever drank that wealthily, yet the Conservatives were guzzling it back. Who paid for this trip and why were they there?

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Mr. Kyle Seeback

Oct/3/23 4:39:20 p.m.
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Re: Bill C-56

Madam Speaker, when members cannot debate the ideas that are put forward, members go to where that member went. I know the member is new, but there is a difference between the provincial government, which he referenced, and the federal government and federal Parliament, which we are actually sitting in right now. The member might want to take some time to read up on the functions of a member of Parliament. However, I am glad he brought up sponsored travel, because the member took a trip to Germany, and his total expenses were $10,489.60. This was in 2022, and it does not stop there. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, he spent 4,300 dollars' worth of sponsored travel to Washington, D.C. Let us get out the dictionary and look up “hypocrisy”.

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The Assistant Deputy Speaker (Mrs. Carol Hughes)

Oct/3/23 4:40:08 p.m.
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I want to remind members that when they ask questions or give answers, they need to make sure they do not interrupt others. Questions and comments, the hon. member for Red Deer—Lacombe.

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