44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 6, 2023 11:00AM
- Nov/6/23 2:38:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is planning to quadruple the tax on heat, gas and groceries, but he decided to pause the pain for the 3% of families in areas where he is plummeting in the polls and his MPs are revolting. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that, if others wanted the pause, then they should have voted Liberal. People in Nickel Belt voted for a Liberal MP, yet they are not seeing a pause in this tax.
Will the Prime Minister today allow the MP for Nickel Belt a free vote to vote with Conservatives to take the tax off and keep the heat on for people in northern Ontario and right across the country?
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- Nov/6/23 2:39:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a northern Liberal member of Parliament because I work everyday with constituents who are telling me that we need to take faster action on the climate. This is because we are losing acres of forest and seeing droughts, even in northern Ontario, which are making it harder to grow food and to grow our economy.
My constituents expect me to advocate for a clean environment, and that is exactly what I will do.
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- Nov/6/23 2:39:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about immigration targets. I would like to quote a document that reads, “from 2026 onward, pin the annual immigration target to...500,000 immigrants...if Canada's population is around 40 million as currently projected.”
Members may think that I am quoting the Liberal plan released last week, but I am not. These are the words of the Century Initiative by McKinsey. The cap on the numbers announced for 2026 is literally McKinsey's plan from the start.
When will the federal government adjust the targets to match immigrant integration capacity instead of blindly following the advice of McKinsey, a private company that literally manages immigration to Canada?
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- Nov/6/23 2:40:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I find that comment strange. It keeps cropping up among Bloc Québécois members. They are so far out in left field that maybe they should take the weekend to go speak with some farmers and see if they need workers, because they do. These workers come from other countries. They should talk to Quebec businesses that need foreign workers. These workers come from other places. The Bloc should be working with us.
We are working with Quebec, and sooner or later the Bloc Québécois needs to get it.
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- Nov/6/23 2:40:45 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, not only is Ottawa following McKinsey's lead, but it is doing so completely blindly. McKinsey officials themselves have confirmed that their immigration target did not take integration capacity into account.
I would like to quote the former CEO, Dominic Barton, who said in committee last year that “the focus...was just on economics. It wasn't thinking about the social context. It was on productivity.”
Capping immigration targets at 500,000 means blithely taking advice that ignores integration capacity. Last week, the government promised to respect that capacity.
Will the government review its targets?
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- Nov/6/23 2:41:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have never spoken to McKinsey. However, I have spoken to Canadians who want more people from abroad, who want more immigrants to come here to work in factories, to work in the fields, in areas represented by the Bloc Québécois. Clearly, we need immigration.
Five hundred thousand is a reasonable target. That is for three years. It has nothing to do with what McKinsey says.
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- Nov/6/23 2:41:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the only difference between Ottawa and McKinsey is that Ottawa goes faster.
McKinsey predicted that the population would reach 40 million in 2026. It did so this past June. According to Statistics Canada, if the trend seen from 2022 to 2023 holds, the population will double in 25 years. It will exceed 80 million people in 2048 regardless of our integration capacity for housing, health care, education, French language training and so forth.
When will this government finally understand that successful immigration is achieved by respecting integration capacity?
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- Nov/6/23 2:42:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is clear that over the past year, Canadians have asked us to do more when it comes to integration capacity.
I am also hearing that we need immigration to grow our businesses. We know that there is still a labour shortage.
We need to take a more surgical approach to our targets. Let us look at what we tabled this week. I think that the Bloc Québécois will be comforted by that, unless it does not like immigration. If it does not, then it should say so loud and clear.
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- Nov/6/23 2:43:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister plans to quadruple the carbon tax on heat, gas and groceries. Now he has decided to pause the pain for the 3% of families where his poll numbers were plummeting and his MPs were revolting. The Liberal rural affairs minister said that, if people in the Prairies want a carbon tax break, they should elect Liberals. Well, the people in Sault Ste. Marie did elect a Liberal MP, yet the majority of his constituents are not getting the break.
Will the Prime Minister allow the MP from Sault Ste. Marie to freely vote, take the tax off and keep the heat on for the people of the Soo?
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- Nov/6/23 2:43:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party, as is often the case, is leaving out many important facts. Eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back in the rebate than they pay for the price on pollution. It is an important part of having a robust plan to address climate change in a thoughtful way. With respect to home heating, it is a particular issue that we can invest in to ensure we are saving money for people, as we move forward, while continuing to address climate change.
The Conservative Party is hiding. It is hiding from science. It is hiding from evidence. It needs to have a plan to fight climate change. Canadians expect more.
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- Nov/6/23 2:44:19 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are watching for today's vote on our common-sense Conservative motion to take the tax off all forms of home heating for all Canadians.
The Liberal rural economic development minister said that if people want a pause on the tax, they should have elected more Liberals in the region. Thunder Bay did elect two Liberal MPs, and yet folks there are not getting any pause. Instead, the Prime Minister plans to quadruple the tax on heat, gas and groceries, rather than treating them fairly.
The question is, will the Prime Minister allow these two Liberal MPs from Thunder Bay to vote freely to take the tax off so people can keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:45:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, again, the Conservatives continue to spread misinformation in this chamber. This pause on the price on pollution on home heating oil applies right across the country, despite what the Conservatives keep saying.
What is particularly concerning, and I think I speak on behalf of every Ontario member of Parliament and many Ontario residents, is every time they say “common sense” it brings up terrible memories of the Mike Harris years, when not only did they slash public services but they slashed them in such incredible ways that it led to things like Walkerton.
Ontarians remember, and they are not going to elect common-sense Conservatives again.
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- Nov/6/23 2:45:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, here is just how out of touch and tone-deaf the Liberals are. When asked if she would support giving the same pause on home heating back home, their own minister, right from Thunder Bay—Superior North, said that they do not have the same challenges in northern Ontario that we see in Atlantic Canada.
I visited Thunder Bay last week, and let me say that it gets very cold there, too, just like in Atlantic Canada.
After eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, the cost of living crisis there is so bad that the regional food bank cannot keep up with the surging demand, now at 12,000 people.
Will the Prime Minister let his Thunder Bay MPs vote to give residents fair treatment and take the tax off, so they can keep the heat on?
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- Nov/6/23 2:46:41 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservative provincial finance minister of Ontario knows that pensions matter for the people of Ontario.
That is why he wrote me a letter asking me to convene a meeting of all provincial finance ministers to defend our pensions. Will the Conservative MPs from Ontario be equally courageous and responsible in defending the pensions of the people of Ontario, and support our effort to keep the pensions of all Canadians safe?
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- Nov/6/23 2:47:22 p.m.
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I am going to ask all members, especially the member for Battle River—Crowfoot, to please listen to the responses that are to offered. I would ask all members to listen to that member when that member does take the floor.
The hon. member for London—Fanshawe.
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- Nov/6/23 2:47:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Palestinian Canadians in my riding did everything possible to work with Global Affairs Canada to get their loved ones out of Gaza. They put all of their hopes on Sunday's evacuation, only to hear nothing from Canadian officials.
The bombardments are getting more intense. My constituents, their families, Canadian citizens are trapped. They need the government to stand for human rights and to protect lives. The heads of 18 UN agencies and NGOs and my constituents are calling for a ceasefire. Why not the Prime Minister?
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- Nov/6/23 2:48:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the situation in Gaza is dire. Many Canadians are worried about their loved ones. What is happening on the ground is fluid and unpredictable, and we know there are delays at the Rafah crossing for all countries.
I want to reassure Canadians that we are in regular contact with Egypt and Israel to push for Canadians to leave as soon as possible. We continually try to reach all Canadians, permanent residents and their immediate family members to convey the latest information.
We continue to call for humanitarian pauses, for Canadians to get out, for aid to get in and for all hostages to be released.
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- Nov/6/23 2:49:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 18 United Nations agencies and international NGOs, including Unicef and Save the Children, called for an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, expressing shock and horror at the mounting death toll from the conflicts, saying that it is a “graveyard for children”.
“It’s been 30 days. Enough is enough,” the UN and the NGO heads said in a rare joint statement. “This must stop now.”
When will the Liberal government finally do what most of the world has called for, and that is demand an immediate ceasefire to save the children right now?
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- Nov/6/23 2:49:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we unequivocally condemn the Hamas terrorist attack. The price of justice cannot be the continued suffering of all Palestinian civilians. What is unfolding in Gaza is a human tragedy.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has been to the region twice to oversee our efforts to help Canadians, but also to de-escalate the situation. That is why we continue to call for international humanitarian law to be upheld and for humanitarian pauses, so Canadians can leave, humanitarian aid can get in and all hostages can be released.
Canada is committed to a goal of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.
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- Nov/6/23 2:50:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know that many Canadian families are struggling to make ends meet. This is particularly the case in Yukon, where more than half of families spend over 30% of their income on housing.
The Minister of National Revenue recently made an important announcement alongside Ms. Tracy-Anne McPhee, the Yukon Minister of Health and Social Services.
Can the Minister of National Revenue inform the House of this announcement and how it will affect our Yukon families?
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