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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 333

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 17, 2024 11:00AM
  • Jun/17/24 2:55:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have bad news for the member for Chicoutimi—Le Fjord. A hundred and eighty-one affordable housing units have been built in his riding. Now for the good news: 181 affordable housing units is 30 times more than the six units that the Conservative leader built across the whole country during his entire career as housing minister. He got six affordable housing units built. I know people might not believe us, but that is a fact. Fortunately, 181 affordable housing units have been built in the member's riding over the past few months, with more on the way in the months to come.
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  • Jun/17/24 2:56:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Quebeckers are joining forces and speaking out against $145 million in cuts to workforce training in Quebec. The Quebec government and labour market partners have asked Ottawa to back down in a letter signed by the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, the Conseil du patronat du Québec, youth chambers of commerce, as well as manufacturers and exporters. They are all speaking with one voice. The Minister of Labour is scheduled to meet with his counterpart today. Will he announce that he is cancelling these cuts?
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  • Jun/17/24 2:57:17 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. It is extremely important that our government invest in training. We are making historic investments in training. We will continue to work with businesses across Quebec. As the minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, that is exactly what I am doing. I am working very closely with my colleague, the Minister of Labour, who is investing record amounts in training.
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  • Jun/17/24 2:57:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, we know how the Liberals operate. They give money hand over fist to oil companies and to firms like McKinsey for untendered contracts. However, they count their pennies when it comes to helping unemployed workers, young people, people with disabilities and others join the workforce. The $145 million in cuts represent 16% of federal labour transfers to Quebec. It makes no sense. The government needs to reverse course. Will it cancel the cuts?
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  • Jun/17/24 2:58:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, our government is making record investments to create record jobs, with $50 billion in the auto sector alone, creating tens of thousands of jobs. We are also investing record amounts in skills training, amounting to billions of dollars each and every year for labour market transfers to the provinces, sectoral workforce programs, doubling the UTIP union training and $1 billion supporting apprentices annually. No government has delivered more for training and jobs than this Liberal government has.
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  • Jun/17/24 2:59:00 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Niagara Falls is powered by tourism, and I am already hearing concerns from small business operators about the Liberal-NDP government's new capital gains tax. Simply put, after nine years, the Liberals do not care about small business. We should remember that it was the government that called them tax cheats. Now, these small businesses are falsely being targeted by the NDP-Liberal coalition as the top one percenters who need to pay more. How many family-run businesses are going to be unfairly taxed and face ruin because of the government's policy?
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  • Jun/17/24 2:59:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my colleague opposite to look into the important small business tax exemption that is also coming into effect. I would like to know why the Conservatives would rather slash the pensions of our seniors than ask the wealthy to pay just a little more. I would like to ask the Conservatives why they would rather cut school lunches for over 400,000 children than to ask the one per cent in our society to pay just a little more.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:00:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the member should be speaking to Nick and his family, who recently sold their tourism retail business after 40 years in operation. The price they negotiated this past winter did not account for the surprise, massive and unfair Liberal tax hike they will now be facing. In fact, Nick wrote to me that the sale was for the retirement of four families and that the extra loss of income, which they did not anticipate, is utterly unfair. Why is the Minister of Finance targeting small family-run businesses and ruining their retirement dreams?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:01:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, unlike the Conservatives, who continue to mock the supports we provide small businesses and actually vote against all the supports we have provided to small businesses, on this side of the House we will continue to support small businesses. In fact on this side of the House we reduced small business taxes from 10.5% to 9%. We will continue to support small businesses and be there for them to start, grow and scale their businesses.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:01:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, millions of Canadians are without a family doctor. The shortage is even more severe in rural and remote communities. The carbon tax already punishes them for driving long distances when they have no other choice. Now the Prime Minister's job-killing tax on health care will make it even harder to find a doctor. It is not fair that Canadian families have to go without a doctor. How many more Canadians will lose a family doctor just to pay for the Prime Minister's out-of-control spending?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:02:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course, asking for a more fair and equitable tax system where those who are the very wealthiest pay a little bit more in taxes so we can have money for doctors and nurses and to make investments into our health care system is actually the answer, not the problem. The problem is Conservative cuts, the fact that the Conservatives want to attack our health care system with deep cuts that would create much worse problems. Of course, the world has faced big challenges in health care coming out of COVID. What we have seen in Canada is leadership, with 26 agreements, $200 billion, dental care, pharmacare and action across the board.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:02:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at this time two years ago, Roe v. Wade was overturned in the United States. The fear and uncertainty this has caused millions of women cannot be minimized. It is a reminder that here in Canada, choice for women is paramount. While Conservative MPs celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade, our government stood committed to ensuring that choice for women remains a fundamental right. Could the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth share the importance of this work?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:03:25 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, two years ago, Roe v. Wade was overturned in the U.S., and so many thought that was an impossibility. However, it taught us that vigilance everywhere is imperative. This past weekend, I met Liz, a self-described old feminist in Thunder Bay. Liz wanted me to remind Canadians that the right to an abortion is a human right and always worth fighting for. That is exactly what we will continue to do on this side of the House. That side of the House cannot say the same.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:04:03 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the government's capital gains tax is killing jobs in health care, home building, small businesses and farming. An agriculture producer in my riding is deeply concerned that the tax is undermining the profitability and sustainability in an already volatile business environment. Their current transition of ownership is severely impacted by these tax changes, rising input costs and softening markets. The minister is raising taxes without even passing a law, which begs this ultimate question: How many more surprise tax hikes will the government spring on Canadians?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:04:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would just like to make very clear one important point, and that is that the changes we have introduced in the budget are just not going to affect the paycheques of Canadians. Anybody taking home a salary in Canada is not going to see a change based on what we have presented for capital gains. In fact what we are asking is with respect to those who do not make a salary, who have their money working for them, who make incredible profits on the investments that they sell. They will be paying a little bit more.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:05:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, anti-Semitism has become a plague on university campuses. Hamas sympathizers camping out at McGill are promoting the “revolutionary summer program”, featuring images of kaffiyeh-clad fighters brandishing machine guns. It is appalling. Summer camp used to be about campfires and canoeing. After nine years of the Prime Minister, it has become “Bring your machine gun to camp to threaten and harass Jewish students.” It must be stopped. What is the government going to do about it?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:06:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think every single Canadian and every single member of the House condemns anti-Semitism. We know that combatting anti-Semitism and hate takes concrete action. That is why in this particular budget we are investing $273 million toward Canada's first-ever action plan on combatting hate. We have also invested more than $200 million toward Canada's anti-racism strategy. We have launched a community resiliency fund. We are working with the Minister of Public Safety. We are going to continue to do everything possible to make sure we combat hate in this country and around the world.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:06:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs told CBC News, last week, that it was news to her that Russian warships were docked alongside one of our Canadian naval vessels in Havana celebrating the Cuban Communist dictatorship. This morning, the Minister of National Defence was asked whether he had told the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and of course he denied it. It is both reckless and dangerous for the Liberals to honour Cuba, Russia's junior partner, and once again they are undermining our relationship and support for Ukraine. Why is the Minister of National Defence using our navy to cozy up to the Communist regime in Cuba with our Russian adversaries?
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  • Jun/17/24 3:07:27 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to act surprised that the Conservatives are politicizing the Royal Canadian Navy deployments, but frankly I am not. To be very clear, it was a military mission. Along with our American allies, the Canadian Navy and Air Force have been tracking the movements and activity of a Russian naval flotilla along the eastern seaboard and into Cuba with our Aurora aircraft and the HMCS Ville de Québec. Upon the advice and at the request of the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Joint Operations Command, I authorised the HMCS Margaret Brooke to visit Havana. We were well aware that the Russians would be present at the same time and we planned our mission accordingly.
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  • Jun/17/24 3:08:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that auto theft is a growing problem and that organized crime is constantly reinventing itself to foil the tactics of our police forces. Yesterday, our government announced the deployment of a mobile X-ray scanner that can scan cargo containers to find stolen vehicles. Can the Minister of Public Safety tell the House what our government has done to intercept more stolen vehicles and thwart the organized crime groups behind auto theft?
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