SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Ms. Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport, Lib.)

Nov/23/23 2:05:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, over the past weekend while in Halifax, I visited Pier 21. I wanted to look up the records of my grandparents, my dad and my uncles who came to Canada on a boat called the Beaverbrae II after World War II. Proud Ukrainians, they came to Canada because they were looking for a safe place to call home and raise their family. My grandparents, if they were alive today, would have been proud of the $9 billion in funding that Canada has contributed to Ukraine. Everything from military equipment to humanitarian and economic support was given to Ukraine as its people bravely fight for their democracy against Russia’s brutal unprovoked invasion. They would have also been proud of the modernized Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement that was passed in this House this week and with Canada’s unconditional stand with Ukraine and its people. Previously, we were united in our support for Ukraine. It is incomprehensible that the federal Conservatives voted against the updated Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement this week. Let us never stop supporting Ukraine’s courage and bravery and let us never stop fighting for its freedom and for ours.

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Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Hon. Mary Ng

Nov/23/23 2:56:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am proud, on this side of the House, that we voted in favour of the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. Canadian businesses have asked for it. They want to be a part of rebuilding Ukraine. On this side of the House, we are supporting Ukraine. I am disappointed— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Hon. Mary Ng

Nov/23/23 2:57:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are supporting Ukraine. Canadian businesses have asked for this agreement because they want to be a part of rebuilding Ukraine. I am disappointed, but I am not surprised, that the Conservatives have decided to abandon Ukraine. When someone shows who they are—

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Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Mr. Mark Gerretsen

Nov/23/23 4:26:02 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know if the member was sitting in the chamber when his two colleagues just spoke, but neither of them spoke about the bill at all. The reality is that the Conservative Party of Canada does not support Ukraine. The Conservatives can say all they want about what they do, but their actions speak louder than words. We have seen that, and Canadians have seen that. It is coming to light now, and everybody is becoming aware of it. It is not supporting Ukraine for the same reason that Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene are not supporting Ukraine, which is that far right influence, and it is in the Conservative Party of Canada. They know it. For those who are still wondering, the real reason the Leader of the Opposition is so petrified to show support for Ukraine is that he would lose votes to Maxime Bernier. It is that simple. He is trying to hold on to a base. When it comes to this particular piece of legislation, we are talking about increasing competition and, by default, increasing trade. We know that, to ensure we put the right measures in place when we are looking internally within our own country, we have to recognize that there are anti-competitive practices going on. When Loblaw has nearly 40% of the market share of groceries between Loblaw's and Shoppers Drug Mart and every other entity it owns, we quickly start to see that it would be extremely difficult for competition to exist. In comparison, Walmart in the United States, which is the retailer with the largest grocery share, has about 18% of the marketplace. We know that, in Canada, there is a problem with this. That is why this bill seeks to strengthen the rules around competition. It seeks to empower the Competition Bureau further, providing it with more resources and the money it would need to effectively operate and giving it the tools to make advances and make moves, when it needs to, to ensure that competition exists. Competition is great, and we need to encourage competition, but sometimes government, or government-charged agencies, have to get involved because we do run into situations where that competition starts to get limited, and then we see price-fixing, as we saw with the Canada Bread Company and its bread price-fixing. That is why this is so incredibly important. Conservatives are going to tell people that inflation is driven by a price on pollution, when it has virtually no effect on it. They are going to tell people that a price on pollution is why the price of gas and oil has skyrocketed over the last year, and it is simply not true. The reality is that, in the oil and gas sector specifically, the carbon tax added two cents per litre. It is two cents and people get more than that back. Meanwhile, wholesale profit margins for the large oil distributors rose by 18¢ per litre. I do not hear the outrage about the profits. The profits of Loblaw were announced just yesterday for its third quarter, and it was, again, a double-digit increase in profits over the previous quarter. It is extremely important that we put the right measures in place to assist with this. I can understand why Conservatives are reluctant to do this. They never seem to fall on the side of those who are struggling, of those who need these supports and tools in place, or of those who need the benefit of healthy competition. This government will do that. I have said this many times in the House before, and I will say it again: I am very glad there is another party in the room who are acting like adults, which is the NDP. It sees this need as well, and it sees the need to push this legislation through for the betterment of all Canadians. We all know that, if we had not put closure on this today, the bill would be here forever. That is what Conservatives have done with so many other pieces of legislation.

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Context: House Hansard - 254 - Nov/23/23

Mr. Chris Bittle (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Lib.)

Nov/23/23 4:52:14 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am a little bit puzzled. On the one hand, the hon. member is attacking the NDP, and I guess the government at the same time, in terms of this motion. On the other, he is supporting the contents of the bill. Does he support the continued Conservative filibuster, or does he not want to see residents of Quebec and the rest of Canada actually benefit from the measures he supports?

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