44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 21, 2023 10:00AM
- Nov/21/23 2:23:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have seen this movie before. The Conservative politicians' approach to facing challenges is always cuts and austerity. He recognizes, as we all do, that Canadians are facing difficult times, and his solution is for the federal government to do less, to invest less in Canadians and to be there less to support Canadians.
That is not what we are going to do. Over the past number of months, we have announced the construction of over 200,000 homes across the country. We are delivering supports for people, for buying groceries, with greater competition, and we are moving forward with clean jobs into the future.
Whether it is manufacturing with Stellantis or Volkswagen, or whether it is resources, we are moving forward to support workers.
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- Nov/21/23 2:24:32 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, what we are proposing is for the federal government to do less damage and cost less money, so that Canadians do not have to live in austerity and cuts as they do today.
Today, we found out that rent rose faster in October than in any month in 40 years. The Prime Minister's solution to that is to quadruple the carbon tax.
Will the Prime Minister announce in an hour, in his fall economic statement, that he has gotten a little bit of common sense, that he is going to cancel the quadrupling and cap the tax until the carbon tax election, when I will win and axe the tax altogether?
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- Nov/21/23 2:25:22 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our solution for Canadians who are having trouble affording housing is to build more housing. It is to invest in working with municipalities, to unlock more homes built and to bring down rents. These are the investments we are making.
It is interesting that the Leader of the Opposition talks about the damage we are doing to Canada by delivering $10-a-day child care, the damage we are doing to Canada by delivering dental care to kids who cannot afford it and the damage we are doing to Canada by continuing to step up for seniors and protecting their pensions.
If that is damage, then we really see what the Conservative leader is made of.
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- Nov/21/23 2:26:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is forcing Canadians to give $15 billion to one battery plant. We now learn that it is going to employ 1,600 foreign workers with Canadian tax dollars. Now, $15 billion works out to $1,000 in federal taxes for every single family in Canada. One would think he would have read the contract he signed with this multinational company.
If he did, can he tell us what section in the contract limits the number of foreign workers who get Canadian tax dollars?
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- Nov/21/23 2:26:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, even having watched the Leader of the Opposition in his almost 20-year political career, it is still astonishing to see the way he chooses to use any misinformation to score political points.
The fact of the matter is that he opposes the investments in manufacturing in Canada. He opposes the Stellantis deal to create EV batteries. He opposes the Volkswagen deal that is going to create up to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in St. Thomas.
He continues to stand against a plan to grow great jobs into a net zero future, and he will use any fake excuse to try to advance that cause.
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- Nov/21/23 2:27:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has spread nothing but disinformation on these very projects.
He was billions of dollars under in estimating the original cost, before the shovels were even in the ground. He claimed the thing would pay itself back in five years. Now we know it is 20 years.
Now we have learned that the majority of the jobs are going to go to foreign workers. That is right: Struggling single moms and seniors will pay $1,000 in taxes, mostly to pay the wages of foreign workers who will not even keep the money here.
Why does the Prime Minister so thoroughly disdain and disrespect Canadian workers that he wants to send their money to another country?
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- Nov/21/23 2:28:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, that is, flat out, false. It is the kind of fearmongering from the Leader of the Opposition that Canadians are seeing almost every single day.
These are thousands of good jobs for Canadians, because this Liberal government has stepped up to reinvest in manufacturing. After years of neglect under a Conservative government, we are stepping up to deliver for Canadians. We are delivering a strong future into a net zero world. The Leader of the Opposition wants to take us back to the Stone Age.
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- Nov/21/23 2:29:15 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the economic stakes are high for Quebec and Canada, and that certainly justifies an economic update. However, before I go back to talk to Quebec's seniors in the coming days, or before I go back to talk to Quebec's chambers of commerce in the coming days, can the Prime Minister confirm that the economic update explicitly contains an increase in the old age pension for seniors, and that it explicitly contains an extension of the repayment deadline for the COVID loans granted to small and medium-sized businesses?
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- Nov/21/23 2:29:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, for the past eight years, we have been there for seniors with investments to increase their pensions. We have been there for the most vulnerable seniors with programs that have given them help and support in their communities. We have invested in housing for seniors. We will continue to be there for seniors.
During COVID-19, we were there to support small business and help entrepreneurs, and we are going to continue to be there. I look forward to sharing the contents of the fall economic statement with my hon. colleague, but he will have to wait a few more hours.
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- Nov/21/23 2:30:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I wonder if maybe I should send my questions to the Prime Minister ahead of time, so that the answer might have something to do with the question. I understand that there will be no extra money for seniors. I understand that there will be no money for the tens of thousands of businesses that are at risk of closing as a result of the pandemic.
Maybe the government is afraid of running out of money, but I have an idea for the government. Why does it not just eliminate the oil subsidies so it can support seniors and businesses?
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- Nov/21/23 2:31:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to send the appropriate schedule to the leader of the Bloc Québécois to point out that the economic statement will be presented to the House and to Canadians at four o'clock this afternoon. This will give members a chance to ask any questions they may have about it.
I will say that help for seniors and for Canadians, investments in housing, investments to help people with the cost of living and investments to build a more prosperous economy in a changing world are all things that will be included in this statement. I look forward to seeing it presented to my colleagues here in the House.
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- Nov/21/23 2:32:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister announced the Stellantis battery plant in Windsor, he said there would be good jobs for a generation of Canadians. Now we are learning that there is potentially a secret deal for 1,600 foreign workers.
When the Prime Minister made this announcement, was it just a photo announcement or was it really a plan to create jobs for Canadians? Will the Prime Minister make this deal public so that Canadians can find out whether he broke yet another promise?
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- Nov/21/23 2:32:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I know that nobody in this House was surprised that the leader of the official opposition fell prey to disinformation and chose to attack the Stellantis deal, but it is disappointing to see the NDP leader, anchored in the community of Windsor, speaking out against the Stellantis deal based on nothing but rumours and disinformation. The reality is this means thousands upon thousands of good jobs for Canadians, good jobs that will grow the local economy and contribute to the battery and manufacturing supply chain in Canada
This is a good deal for Canada. Everyone should get behind it, especially people who care about Windsor.
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- Nov/21/23 2:33:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Prime Minister has nothing to hide, then he should just make the deal public.
Loblaws and Metro just reported much higher profits than last year. Meanwhile, one in 10 Quebeckers is using food banks. This morning, we learned that grocery inflation outpaced headline inflation for the 23rd month in a row.
Will the Prime Minister announce today the measures we have been calling for to lower the cost of groceries?
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- Nov/21/23 2:34:02 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we have long been concerned about the price of groceries. That is why the parliamentary committee and the minister convened the heads of the grocery chains to work with them to stabilize the price of groceries. We know how important it is to be there to support Canadians.
I can assure hon. members that in the fall economic statement that we are presenting in a few hours, there will be measures to further enhance competition in the grocery sector in order to help people buy groceries and support their families during these difficult times.
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- Nov/21/23 2:34:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last year, the finance minister promised to balance the budget in her false hopes update. She then did a massive flip-flop and promised to balance the budget in the year never. The Prime Minister did a massive flip-flop recently too, on his carbon tax scam, when he gave a temporary carve-out for Canadians in Atlantic Canada, where his poll numbers were tanking. That is 3% of Canadians.
After eight years, the Liberal-NDP government is not worth the cost and still plans on quadrupling it. Why not pause quadrupling the carbon tax in today's failing economic update and call a carbon tax election so that Canadians can decide?
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- Nov/21/23 2:35:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague often neglects to mention a whole range of important facts. The price on pollution is an important component of a broad approach to fighting climate change. It is done in a manner that addresses affordability concerns. Eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back than they pay.
With respect to home heating oil, it is a specific case. We are focused on ensuring that we do it in a manner that will help us drive the fight against climate change while ensuring affordability for Canadians. It is a responsible and thoughtful approach to public policy, something we never hear from the Conservatives.
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- Nov/21/23 2:36:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada's best climate change plan is going to be a change in government under the common-sense Conservative leader as prime minister.
Two million Canadians are going to a food bank in a single month. One in five is skipping meals. Food inflation is out of control. Failed woke policies like the carbon tax are driving up the cost of gas, groceries and home heating. While the NDP-Liberals continue to miss every single climate change target they set for themselves, Canadians get less in these phony rebates, and they still plan on quadrupling it.
Why not put a pause on quadrupling the carbon tax and go to an election so Canadians can decide on the carbon tax themselves?
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- Nov/21/23 2:36:48 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side, and for Canadians across this country but particularly in Ontario, when we hear the words “common sense” and “Conservatives”, we get the shivers. We remember the time when they cut services to education, when they cut services to health care and when they cut important services for water that led to deaths in Walkerton. When we hear “common-sense Conservatives”, we know that means cuts for Canadians and harms to Canadians, and nothing good comes of it.
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- Nov/21/23 2:37:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after eight years of the NDP-Liberal government, grocery and home heating bills continue to rise, as do rent and mortgage payments. Scotiabank has said that inflationary government deficits are to blame. If our deficit-maker-in-chief was to show fiscal responsibility, it would drop interest rates by 2% and save the average family $700 a month off their mortgage.
Does the Prime Minister understand his deficits are making it difficult for people to afford basic necessities like food and housing, or does he think all Canadians are auditioning for Les Mis?
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