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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 332

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 14, 2024 10:00AM
  • Jun/14/24 11:44:25 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the federal government's very own Public Sector Pension Investment Board partnered up with the rich real estate CEOs to invest in 71, 75 and 79 Thorncliffe Park Drive. Now, they are hiking rents and evicting people, and the Liberals are letting them get away with it. When the NDP tried to summon the very same CEOs to explain themselves, the Liberals and the Conservatives teamed up to block it. Why are the Liberals partnering with rich CEOs to jack up rents and to evict people from their homes?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:45:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member knows about this very well because she put in an Order Paper question not too long ago about this matter. She keeps on raising the name of the company Starlight, which did not have any relations with CMHC, so we can take up that matter at committee. More substantively on the issue of housing, the current government is the first in Canadian history to put forward measures to protect renters and, in fact, to attach conditionality to infrastructure funding. Provinces want access to infrastructure funding. They have to respond by putting in place protections for renters, whether they include supportive housing or co-op housing; all the things the NDP rightly championed were behind that vision for the country.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:45:44 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Jordan's principle is supposed to uphold equity and health services for indigenous children and youth, yet multiple organizations in Winnipeg Centre are going without funding. Biigewin is owed almost $600,000, and Spirit Horse is owed almost $400,000. Staff are going without pay. The minister would not work without pay, so why should indigenous organizations? When will the Liberals uphold Jordan's principle and ensure that indigenous organizations are paid what they are owed?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:46:23 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, for generations, first nations families and people have suffered tremendously through discriminatory and systemically racist child welfare practices. One of the first things we did as a government was to implement Jordan's principle in 2016 to ensure that first nations children can access the care they need, when they need it. Last year, we also reached a milestone compensation agreement that was co-developed with first nations partners. We are actively working with partners on strategies and best practices to speed up approvals and reduce administrative burdens faced by service providers. I will work with the member to make sure that this issue is dealt with.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:46:57 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, for far too long, successive governments have failed to fund and protect affordable housing across Canada, but our government is changing that. Last week, we made a historic $1.5-billion investment in the new co-operative housing development program; it is the largest investment in co-op housing this country has seen in 30 years. Can the parliamentary secretary for housing, infrastructure and communities please share with Canadians how the co-op housing development program is going to create a new generation of co-operative housing across Canada?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:47:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, as a former mayor, our colleague understands very well the place of co-op housing in communities, large and small. Two hundred and fifty thousand Canadians live in co-ops. It is an affordable option. These are non-profits, of course, which come in various types. They may be large apartments or townhouse complexes. They vary, but they fundamentally provide a sense of community to the people who live there. The Leader of the Opposition insulted these 250,000 Canadians by calling it Soviet-style housing. He styles himself as some sort of student of history. He should read his history. He should come up with a housing plan that actually makes sense. The Conservatives have no vision because they do not care.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:48:21 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, last night, the Auditor General revealed that the Prime Minister's hand-picked Liberal cronies running the billion-dollar green slush fund gave companies they owned not the $76 million that was revealed last week but, actually, $319 million of taxpayer money. That is on top of the Auditor General's findings that $59 million was spent on ineligible projects by those Liberal robbers. That is almost $400 million of taxpayers' money that the Liberals took to enrich themselves. When will the Liberals get the money back?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:48:59 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, here are the sleepy Conservatives again. We have said it time and time again. We investigated what happened at SDTC. We made sure that the chair and the CEO resigned. We launched an investigation. We suspended the fund to the organization. We supported the Auditor General's report, and now we have provided a new governance mechanism to make sure that we can support the small and medium-sized businesses in this country that are fighting climate change. When will the Conservatives get on board and support our actions?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:49:38 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Liberal minister was sleeping at the switch. He sat idly by for five years and did absolutely nothing as Liberals stole $400 million of taxpayer money. It took a Conservative motion in the House to be passed to send documents on these corrupt Liberals to the RCMP, despite Liberals voting against it. The Liberal hacks broke two laws, and their lobbyist, the minister of the environment, joined the minister of industry in the getaway car as the Liberals funnelled $400 million to themselves. When will the Liberals demand the return of the $400 million stolen by the Prime Minister's friends?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:50:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am happy. I know it is Friday, so let us wake up the Conservatives. They have been sleeping. I launched the investigation when they were sleeping. Here we go. We started the investigation. We made sure that people would come back and have a new governance model. We made sure we would support our small and medium-sized businesses. We know they are against climate change, but now we have learned they are against small and medium-sized businesses. Can one imagine that they are against small and medium-sized businesses? We are going to fight for Canadians every step of the way, restore governance and fight climate change.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:50:58 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, yesterday the Auditor General confirmed that a staggering 400 million taxpayers' dollars improperly went out the door at the Liberals' green slush fund. Board members illegally funnelled $319 million into their own companies. Meanwhile, the current minister and former minister turned a blind eye to corruption on a level that makes the sponsorship scandal look small. Now that the corruption has been exposed, what specific steps is the minister taking to get taxpayers a refund?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:51:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, here we go again. Another one just woke up and asked a question about something we have dealt with. Canadians want governance. That is what we did. They want to make sure we get to the bottom of things, which is what we did. They want to make sure we restore funding to small and medium-sized businesses so we can fight climate change together. I do not mind these sleepy Conservatives asking me questions, because I will always fight for Canadians, I will always fight for small businesses and will fight against climate change.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:52:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, we will not take any lessons from this government, and especially not from this minister, who has been asleep at the switch for five years while a very serious situation was happening with the green fund at Sustainable Development Technology Canada, or SDTC. We thought things could not get worse, but we were wrong. Yesterday, the Auditor General tabled a report that shows that these people put nearly $400 million in the pockets of Liberal cronies. That is the reality. What is more, $319 million went to the directors of the green fund. When will the minister finally wake up? The whistle-blower himself recognized that the minister did not act in time.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:52:48 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, now my friend and colleague from Louis-Saint-Laurent is waking up. The French-speaking Conservatives are finally waking up. I know it is Friday, but people seem to finally be waking up. As I said before, we launched the investigation to restore governance within this important organization. The chair of the board and the CEO both resigned. We suspended the funding. We proposed a new governance model. On this side of the House, we will always fight for small and medium-sized businesses. We will fight climate change, and we will continue to support—
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  • Jun/14/24 11:53:26 a.m.
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The hon. member for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:53:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, all regions deserve support in dealing with forest fires. In the supplementary estimates, Ottawa is increasing the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada's budget to rebuild the village of Lytton, British Columbia, which was razed by fires in 2021. We stand in solidarity with the people of Lytton. We want them to rebuild their lives. That said, there were fires in Quebec last summer, too. Fires burned 4.3 million hectares of forest in Quebec. That is an area bigger than Switzerland. Will the other economic development agencies also be entitled to similar assistance for last year's forest fires?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:54:06 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. As she probably saw in the last budget, this year we have again invested extra money to be better prepared for forest fires. By the end of the year, we will have trained more than 1,000 firefighters across the country. We are working with our partners in the provinces, territories and indigenous communities, as well as the international community, to ensure that we are as prepared as possible for forest fires. Of course, being prepared for forest fires also means tackling climate change. Sadly, this is something the Conservatives have not yet understood.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:54:44 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou was hit particularly hard. More than one million hectares went up in smoke. We all remember the courage of local residents, who fought to save their municipalities and their homes. That is why we cannot help but empathize with the residents of Lytton. We can imagine what they went through. All we are asking for is fairness. Will any funding be allocated to the other economic development agencies whose regions were also affected by the 2023 forest fires?
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  • Jun/14/24 11:55:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, not only did we invest additional funding in the most recent budget to increase our capacity to deal with forest fires, but last year we also implemented the first climate change adaptation plan in the history of the country. We worked with all the provincial governments. We are working with municipalities. We are working with indigenous communities to implement measures to help our communities be better prepared to deal with climate change.
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  • Jun/14/24 11:55:49 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, in a cabinet of serial lawbreakers, the minister from Edmonton is showing that after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, the Prime Minister is not worth the corruption. This is the minister who has been cashing cheques from a lobbying firm that is lobbying his own government. Global News revealed text messages that show a “Randy” is involved in a $500,000 fraud case at the minister's company. I have a really simple question that we have not been able to get an answer to and maybe the government House leader can answer it today. Why will the Liberals not tell us what Randy's last name is?
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