44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 31, 2023 10:00AM
- Oct/31/23 3:10:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have always worked to respond to regional needs as a government.
Let me be clear: We put billions of dollars in the last budget for carbon capture use and storage that would predominantly go to Alberta and Saskatchewan. We have put flexibility in our clean electricity regulations, an exemption that would take us out to 2035, burning natural gas.
If the Premier of Alberta and the Premier of Saskatchewan want to scope this in, they can join us and help low-income Canadians to get heat pumps and get off of heating oil.
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- Oct/31/23 3:10:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my riding of Laval—Les Îles has the largest Armenian community in Canada. Many of my constituents are very concerned about the humanitarian crisis caused by Azerbaijan's most recent military operations.
How can the new Canadian embassy in Yerevan, opened by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, help to strengthen and enhance ties between Canada and Armenia and resolve the conflict in the long term?
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- Oct/31/23 3:11:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his important question.
I actually just got back from Armenia, where we opened a Canadian embassy for the first time. I think that was worth doing. It is good news for everyone, even the opposition.
I also want to say that I joined the EU mission that monitors the border to ensure greater stability and security in the South Caucasus region. That is an example of Canada's leadership in the world. I will have an opportunity to talk more about that tomorrow when I am in Montreal.
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- Oct/31/23 3:12:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, Canadians are hurting more than ever before. The government's solution is actually to divide our country by picking winners and losers.
For some Canadians, they will save $1 on the carbon tax with regard to their home heating, because, of course, it will be temporarily paused, but for those in Alberta, they are not given the same benefit. They will continue to pay the carbon tax.
The Minister of Labour and Seniors had this to say. He said that this is purely an affordability issue. Conservatives believe that this is true. It is an affordability issue for all Canadians, not just some.
Could the Minister of Labour and Seniors tell me why the seniors in my community do not deserve the same break as the seniors in his community?
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- Oct/31/23 3:13:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us look at the facts. Child poverty in our country has been cut in half, thanks to the Canada child benefit. How did the Conservatives vote? They voted against an affordable child care system that is saving Alberta families up to $10,000 a year and creating 65,000 new spaces. How did the Conservatives campaign? Against. On a pipeline to tidewater, what did the Conservatives do as we were getting TMX ready to be built? They argued against.
We are here for Canadians. We are here for Albertans. We are going to make sure that our climate plan works. They can argue against. We are here for Canadians every step of the way.
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- Oct/31/23 3:13:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years, the desperate NDP-Liberal Prime Minister, in total free fall, finally admitted that his carbon tax is punishing Canadians and making life unaffordable, but today we heard from the minister for prairies and northern development that he has never heard push-back against his party's carbon tax. I have news for the minister: Canadians from every corner of the country have been desperate for someone to listen to their plight.
Will the minister admit that the Prime Minister is not worth the cost and join Conservatives in supporting our call to axe the carbon tax on all home heating?
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- Oct/31/23 3:14:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives like to talk about axes, and it is clear that they have been working with the Premier of Alberta, because she wants to axe renewables. She wants to axe low electricity rates in Alberta by doing a six-month moratorium that has already cost us $12 billion in investment, with $30 billion more probably leaving our province. They want to slash supports for students, seniors and working-class Canadians. The icing on top of the cake is that they want to pull Albertans out of the CPP. Shame on them.
We are going to move forward on climate change and protect Albertan pensioners.
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- Oct/31/23 3:15:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of this government, Quebeckers simply cannot take it anymore. The use of food banks is at an all-time high: Every month, one in 10 people in Quebec is forced to go to food banks.
The government, with the Bloc Québécois's radical support, wants to make things worse with its carbon tax. It is costly to vote for the Bloc Québécois.
The Prime Minister gave a break to the Atlantic provinces, but not to Quebeckers. Will the Prime Minister announce the complete, not just temporary, withdrawal of the second carbon tax for all Quebeckers?
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- Oct/31/23 3:16:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, given the enthusiasm generated by the questions from our colleagues on the other side of the House earlier, several of us wanted to answer.
I was unable to respond to the member for Portneuf–Jacques-Cartier who asked me what Greenpeace thought of my work as Minister of the Environment. In an interview with Patrick Lagacé on 98.5, the Greenpeace representative said that I was the best environment minister in Canadian history.
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- Oct/31/23 3:17:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the late Nelson Mandela once said, “Sport has the power to...unite people in a way that little else does.” Great examples of this are the Pan Am Games and the Parapan Am Games. Earlier this month, Team Canada began its 2023 Pan Am journey, and in a few weeks from now, it will begin its Parapan Am journey. I think I can say with confidence that all members of the House are proud of our Canadian athletes.
Can the minister please update the House on our athletes at the Pan Am Games and the Parapan Am Games?
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- Oct/31/23 3:17:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was recently in Chile to support Team Canada. There are 470 Canadian athletes participating in the Pan Am Games, with another 127 slated to compete at the Parapan Am Games in a couple of weeks. These include three athletes from my home riding of Delta. So far, Canada has won 105 medals and is on course to exceed its all-time medal count at these games.
I thank all the athletes, coaches, parents, trainers and everyone who makes it possible for the athletes to compete and succeed. On behalf of all Canadians, I would like to wish our athletes well and say, “Go, Canada, go.”
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- Oct/31/23 3:18:37 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, the cost of living is creating a crisis in northern communities, and the Liberals are making it worse. Federal employees rely on a subsidy to help them with their housing expenses, and the Liberals are trying to cut that subsidy, a move that would cost workers between $6,000 and $8,500 a year. This would force people out of their homes and cut services that northerners rely on.
Will the Liberals reverse this decision and stop punishing workers?
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- Oct/31/23 3:19:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is an important question and one that we are fully engaged in. I am working with the Treasury Board and the members of Parliament for Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon on the question. As soon as we get clarification, I will get back to the MP for Nunavut with the answer.
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- Oct/31/23 3:19:43 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that Canada is in a housing crisis. We have heard from builders, bankers, economists and policy experts that significant public investment in housing is required in order to get out of the crisis. What does the finance minister say? She asks what the Bank of Canada and the rating agencies will do. There is good news. At the finance committee yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of Canada said that investments to increase housing supply in Canada would not be regarded as inflationary spending and might actually help bring down inflation. Therefore, the path is clear to replenish the co-investment fund and the rapid housing initiative, and to start a non-profit acquisition fund.
Is the government going to do it in the fall economic statement or will it be missing in action?
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- Oct/31/23 3:20:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the point on the acquisition fund is one that the member and I have discussed in the past, and it does merit further consideration, but I also point to the various other programs that are part of the national housing strategy that he mentioned: the rapid housing initiative and the national co-investment fund. These programs combined, added to others, have lifted 70,000 people off the streets. They now have wraparound supports that help them make a transition toward something better. There are 122,000 people who were near homelessness who are now housed because of the strategy.
We have more work to do, and we will do that work in co-operation with partners.
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- Oct/31/23 3:21:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I want to correct the record. I misspoke during question period and want to make sure my comments are accurate. I said that the Governor of the Bank of Canada testified that the carbon tax added 16% of extra inflation. It is actually 16% of total inflation and 33% of extra inflation above target.
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- Oct/31/23 3:21:25 p.m.
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I appreciate the precision, but that is bordering on if not crossing the line into debate.
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- Oct/31/23 3:22:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, you often mention the need to improve the tone in the House, and it is with that in mind that I rise on a point of order.
In answer to the second question of my hon. colleague from Lac-Saint-Jean, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said that “on the Bloc Québécois side, there is a foolish refusal to understand”.
I think you will agree that these remarks are unparliamentary. I therefore demand that the minister withdraw those comments and apologize.
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- Oct/31/23 3:23:32 p.m.
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I thank the hon. member for La Prairie for his intervention, which concerns decorum in the House.
I note that the minister is not here. I will take that into consideration and return to the House with a ruling, if necessary.
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- Oct/31/23 3:24:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Earlier, during oral question period, I must admit that I made a mistake. I asked the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to put the question to his former organization, which is Equiterre, not Greenpeace. I would like the minister to ask Equiterre what they think of him.
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