44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 6, 2023 11:00AM
- Nov/6/23 2:18:23 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers have long known that this Prime Minister is not worth the cost, but the Bloc Québécois just does not get it.
It seems that the Bloc Québécois wants to radically increase taxes and they even support the idea that taxes should apply differently from one region to another. Now we are learning from La Presse that the Bloc Québécois has assured Liberal ministers that it will keep the Prime Minister in power for another two years. This amounts to another costly coalition.
What concessions did the Prime Minister make to the Bloc Québécois to be able to stay in power for another two years?
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- Nov/6/23 2:19:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government was proud to follow Quebec's example when it comes to child care and early learning centres.
Our government is also very proud to follow Quebec's excellent example when it comes to climate action. Quebec was the first province to put a price on pollution.
We are very happy to work with all Quebeckers on environmental issues.
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- Nov/6/23 2:19:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my question was for the Prime Minister who is hiding and is not worth the cost. My question had to do with the Bloc Québécois decision to vote in favour of keeping a tax Canadians' home heating.
Today we find out that the Bloc Québécois's wish to drastically increase this Prime Minister's carbon taxes was not a coincidence. The Bloc MPs gave the Prime Minister assurances that they will keep him in power in a costly coalition for two years.
What concessions did the Bloc Québécois get to keep this incompetent, costly Prime Minister in power?
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- Nov/6/23 2:20:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about Quebec. Quebeckers have other priorities.
The Leader of the Opposition wants to take Quebec backward when it comes to fighting climate change. He wants to take Quebec backward on fundamental rights, on women's rights. He wants to take Quebec backward by putting assault weapons back on the streets.
It is very clear that the Conservative leader wants to bring Quebeckers and Canada back to the Stone Age.
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- Nov/6/23 2:21:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is in Ottawa today, so the question is for him.
He is panicked now and put a pause on the carbon tax for 3% of Canadians in ridings where his polls are plummeting and his MPs are revolting. Also revolting were the comments of the Liberal rural affairs minister, who stated that other Canadians would have had a pause in the pain if they had elected more Liberals. However, northern Ontarians did elect Liberals.
Will the Prime Minister allow a free vote for his northern MPs on our common-sense motion to keep the heat on and take the tax off?
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- Nov/6/23 2:21:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I have explained to the Leader of the Opposition through many different question periods over the past number of days, home heating oil is two to four times as expensive as natural gas. It accelerated by 75% in 2022. We have put in place a plan that will enable people to get off heating oil and have free heat pumps. It will save them up to $2,500 a year. It will make things more affordable, and at the same time it will allow us to fight climate change. That is true for the 270,000 households that use heating oil here in Ontario.
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- Nov/6/23 2:22:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the question was for the Prime Minister, who first was dividing and now is in hiding. He wants to quadruple his tax, but now he has had to back down and give a pause to the pain for 3% of people in ridings where his polls are plummeting and his MPs are in full revolt against him. His minister of rural affairs said that if people in other regions want the same pause on the pain, they have to elect Liberal MPs. However, many did. We have a Liberal MP in Calgary and one in Edmonton.
Will they be allowed a free vote on the common-sense Conservative motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:23:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is important to have thoughtful public policy prescriptions that address issues around affordability in a long-term way, but that also address the issue of climate change. I would say the only person hiding in this chamber is the leader of the official opposition, who is hiding the fact that either he does not believe in climate change or he does not think it is very important. He has not spoken the words “climate change” since he was elected, and he has no plan. At some point he needs to tell Canadians what his plan is to address the climate crisis.
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- Nov/6/23 2:23:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am right here while the Prime Minister hides and divides. Why would he not hide? After all, he is in panic mode. He first promised to quadruple the tax on everyone, and then after I beat him in that debate, he decided to back down and lift the tax off 3% of people for a short period of time.
His rural affairs minister said that if other Canadians wanted the same pause from the pain, they needed to elect more Liberals. Well, Thunder Bay elected two Liberals, and it is a very cold place. Will the members from Thunder Bay be given a free vote on our motion to take the tax off and keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:24:46 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let me tell members who is missing in action when it comes to protecting Canadians and their affordability, and I am talking about the affordability of life for our seniors. It is the Conservative leader. It took him 29 days to speak up for the Canada pension plan, but none of us should have been surprised because last year, he sought to eviscerate that plan, which is so important to every single Canadian, by seeking to freeze contributions.
We cannot trust Conservatives with our pensions or anything else.
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Mr. Speaker, last week, TVA had to lay off a third of its employees. That means that 547 people who work in Quebec television are losing their jobs just like that. This is a disaster. If it happened at TVA, it is going to happen elsewhere too. This is definitely going to happen again. We will not turn a blind eye and say that the new Broadcasting Act or Bill C‑18 is going to fix everything.
The question is simple. Will the government stand by while our television slowly dies or will it review everything to save conventional television?
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- Nov/6/23 2:26:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by saying that my thoughts are with the workers and their families who are affected by this terrible news as the holiday season approaches.
We know that the media has been in crisis for over a decade. Unfortunately, the world of telecommunications and the world of journalism in general have been undergoing major changes since the advent of digital platforms. Obviously, we will continue to work with our Bloc Québécois and NDP colleagues to do everything we can to address this issue because journalism is our cultural industry. It is essential for our democracy and our society.
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- Nov/6/23 2:26:49 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our television is the medium through which information is shared with the people. It is the medium through which our culture is shared. Our television reminds us who we are, what we can create and what makes us unique, things that the streaming services of this world like YouTube, Netflix and Disney+ will never be able to do. Our television is produced by us and for us. It is in grave danger. As we watch it slowly fade to black, we are waiting for Ottawa to wake up. Time is running out.
What will it take for the government to wake up?
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- Nov/6/23 2:27:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I share my colleague's concerns.
That is why we first introduced a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act in 2020. Unfortunately, since 2020, the Conservatives have been obstructing efforts to modernize our audiovisual landscape and news media. Still today, they continue to say that we want to censor Canadians when we really want to promote quality journalism across the country and a creative industry that is vital to our democracy and all of society.
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- Nov/6/23 2:28:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for three decades, Liberals and Conservatives relied on the private market, and now the average rent for a one-bedroom is $2,500 a month. The government's own housing advocate is calling for more community housing that fits people's budgets, and the Bank of Canada says that investing in social housing would not be inflationary.
The Conservative leader is calling investment in social housing a “Soviet-style takeover”. He is in it for wealthy investors.
The Liberals are failing Canadians. Will the Prime Minister stop siding with Conservatives and commit to doubling Canada's social housing stock?
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- Nov/6/23 2:28:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I agree wholeheartedly with my colleague about the Conservative leader's rhetoric about “Soviet-style” housing to describe co-operatives. It mirrors the same approach he took over the course of the summer when he labelled a Niagara woman's home a “shack”. Dismissing the living quarters of ordinary Canadians is entirely inappropriate.
I further agree with the NDP member that we need to continue to make the kinds of investments that will build more social housing for low-income families. We got back into this game with the national housing strategy after 30 years of absence. We are going to continue to build more homes so that everyone can afford a roof over their head.
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Mr. Speaker, people in Newfoundland and Labrador could certainly use some help when it comes to their costs, with 77% saying that they are living paycheque to paycheque, but we continue to get answers that are not a commitment to doubling that social housing stock or to recapitalizing funds that the government has already created to build social housing.
Even when it does not cost money, the government will not lift a finger. We stood by as we watched the Competition Bureau fight tooth and nail against the Rogers-Shaw merger. The government turned around and approved it. It now has a chance to support our initiative to strengthen the Competition Act. Will it do it?
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Mr. Speaker, the hon. member and members of the House will have an opportunity to do something for Canadians. I have asked the Leader of the Opposition to do one thing for Canadians, which is something that he does not do very often, but that one thing is to vote for Bill C-56. Canadians will be happy to learn that Bill C-56 would reform competition by giving more power to the competition commissioner, removing the mergers that are harmful to competition and removing the clauses that are hurting competition.
We want more competition and lower prices in this country.
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- Nov/6/23 2:30:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the NDP voted 16 times in favour of the carbon tax. Its leader has supported quadrupling the tax on the home heating of every single Canadian, but after working-class union households have been abandoning his party for the Conservatives in droves, he has now flip-flopped. That has involved the courage of admitting that he was wrong.
Will the Prime Minister show the same courage and admit that he, just like the NDP leader, is dead wrong and vote for our common-sense motion to keep the heat on and take the tax off?
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- Nov/6/23 2:31:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find it helpful to deal with the people who are closest to the problem. In Atlantic Canada, the Ecology Action Centre is based in Halifax, and it released a statement that I think is prescient to the debate going on here. It says:
Energy poverty and climate change represent a direct threat to working-class people in Nova Scotia. As a society, we must work together to ensure households with low incomes can transition away from expensive fossil fuels to technologies like heat pumps that are cheaper, better for our health and afford us the comforts associated with heating and cooling. Policy-makers are finally rising to meet the challenge.
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