SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24

Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 10:05:32 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and consistent with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Agreement between Canada, of the one part, and the European Union, of the other part, on the Participation of Canada in Union Programmes”, which includes the “Protocol on the Association of Canada to Horizon Europe - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027)”, done at Montreal on July 3.

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Mr. John Brassard (Barrie—Innisfil, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:05:47 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled “Failure to Respond to an Order of the Committee”.

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Access

Mr. Dan Muys (Flamborough—Glanbrook, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:06:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am pleased to respond on behalf of my common-sense Conservative colleagues on the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities with our supplementary report. We too thank the staff, the analysts, the clerk and the committee chair. In the motion that gave rise to this study, we were specifically asked to look at high-speed rail proposals in Alberta, but that was not done in the course of this study. In fact, there was no real consequential study or recommendations outside the Toronto to Quebec City corridor. Therefore, we recommend that this be tackled in the future. Our second concern is that, while we are pleased that the Conservative motions to ensure transparency on the costs and to protect taxpayers from cost overruns were adopted, we are still concerned because many of the aspects and costs of this project remain undefined. We table the supplementary report.

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Mr. Peter Schiefke (Vaudreuil—Soulanges, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 10:06:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 18th report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities entitled “Issues and Opportunities: High Frequency Rail in the Toronto to Quebec City Corridor”. Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

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Mr. John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:07:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the following two reports of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. The 42nd report is entitled “Report 6, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, of the 2024 Reports 5 to 7 of the Auditor General of Canada”. Specifically, it was passed in the committee that we report it to the House; it asks the Auditor General to undertake a value-for-money and performance audit of the work done by SDTC since Monday, January 1, 2017. The 43rd report is entitled “Report 6, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, of the 2024 Reports 5 to 7 of the Auditor General of Canada”. Specifically, the committee expressed extreme concern with the blatant disregard for taxpayer funds. Therefore, it calls on the Government of Canada to recoup these funds for Canadian taxpayers, following the adoption of this motion that the committee report this matter to the House.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Sep/17/24 10:09:28 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Before my colleague rises to speak, I wanted to respond to a question of privilege raised by the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle yesterday. Our spot to intervene was reserved by the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, who identified that we would like to reply. I want to say that the matter of privilege follows from a House order made in June to ensure that the documents related to SDTC be compiled and provided to the RCMP to ensure that they have access to all information on this issue. Canadians deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent and, specifically, how those dollars were awarded to SDTC. As I said at the time, New Democrats believe that this is broader than just the SDTC issue. For decades, Liberals and Conservatives have appointed friends to positions of power to be rewarded with taxpayers' dollars. We saw that yesterday at testimony, where both Liberals and Conservatives competed in a challenge over who was more corrupt versus the other. That happened just yesterday, if we want to watch the tapes. It was actually at the industry committee. This is just the latest example. For that reason, we supported the motion in June to order these documents for clarity. In fact, New Democrats have been calling for more information to be released through reform of our system internally. This has yet to be done by either the Liberals or the Conservatives. It is actually borne through legislation of Crown copyright that goes back to 1909 and has yet to be reformed. As outlined by the Conservative House leader, responses to this order have been inconsistent. While we appreciate the unusual nature of this order, the House indeed ordered the documents. As such, it is up to the House to decide whether it is satisfied by the nature of the response. I would be remiss if I did not point out that there is an element of hypocrisy again in this, as the Conservatives were not consistent on this issue when they were in government. In fact, I have sat in this chamber many times when they did not do what they are now requesting. As such, we want to make sure the documents are actually released and are provided to all of Parliament. More importantly, New Democrats support that process because it only sheds light on the hypocrisy of the Conservatives now requesting what they often have denied in their past practices in this chamber.

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Mr. Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:11:16 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I move that the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, presented on Friday, February 16, be concurred in. I will be sharing my time with my good friend, the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable. I want to quickly jog the House's memory about the 13th report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations and what I believe is so important that we discuss today. However, before I give the details of that report, I want to provide a bit of context about what the situation is in Canada today. This summer, Statistics Canada released just devastating numbers about what we can expect this fall for food bank usage. One in four Canadians is going to be relying on food banks to feed themselves and their families. That is 25%. What is so interesting and truly heartbreaking about this is that we do not have a 25% unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is about 6% in this region; we know that it is high among new Canadians and students, at about 12%. The reason I bring this up is that, with 25% of people using food banks, it means that we have people who are working one and two jobs but are still not able to feed themselves and their families. In my community, the Brockville and Area Food Bank, the South Grenville Food Bank and the Gananoque and Area Food Bank have seen their use double, and this is the trend across the country. Canadians are struggling. We have food banks extending their hours to be able to serve people when they get off their shift, before they go into their next job. With this as the backdrop, let us take a look at what the government prioritized. We uncovered, through the work of common-sense Conservatives, the grift and corruption that has festered after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government. We saw a very public case of that with the arrive scam and GC Strategies. Here, these two grifters working out of a basement were taking 30% of multi-million dollar contracts and adding no value for Canadians. Now, this report was done on the request to the AG to conduct a performance audit, and this came out of the GC Strategies scandal, the NDP-Liberal government's arrive scam. It is devastating for Canadians to see that. The government makes all kinds of claims about being compassionate or wanting to help Canadians. The Canadians they are helping are Liberal insiders. They are the elite, making millions of dollars. What I think is shocking to Main Street Canadians is that, when this was uncovered, the Liberal government did not say, “Oh my goodness, we are so surprised. We agree, and we want to get to the bottom of this so that we can ensure it never happens again.” The member for Carleton, the leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition, put forward a motion almost two years ago to have the Auditor General investigate. However, what did the Prime Minister do? He voted against. What did his cabinet do? It voted against. What did all the Liberal members do? They voted against having the Auditor General get to the bottom of this $60-million arrive scam. The Liberals like to talk about this app. We have famously heard that it saved lives. However, it also put 10,000 people under house arrest because of a glitch. If the Liberals had spent some money credibly developing a product that Canadians knew they needed and knew worked well, which did not send 10,000 people into house arrest, they might have had a little goodwill, but the app was broken. Canada Border Services Agency frontline officers said that the government took resources away from them and that they were not consulted on it. The experts, the boots in the boxes at our border, told us they did not want it as it impeded them from doing their job of keeping Canadians safe. However, the government knew better. Why did it insist on the $60-million boondoggle if frontline border service officers said they did not need it? It was because its buddies were getting paid. Liberal insiders were lining their pockets. Remember the Canadians lining up at food banks. This is an incredibly important issue. It is emblematic of nine years of the NDP-Liberal government. This is what happens when you have a Prime Minister twice found guilty of breaking the law. It has never happened in this country before. That is the standard from the top down that we have seen under the Prime Minister, so it is no surprise that Canadians are calling for action. Canadians are speaking out. Canadians are expressing their disapproval of the government. Conservatives, in response to those calls, have said that we want to have a carbon tax election. We want to give Canadians the choice between an out-of-touch government that rewards its friends and raises taxes on Canadians when they can least afford it, or the common-sense Conservatives who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. It was a pleasure yesterday to welcome in our new colleague, the member for Toronto—St. Paul's. There is a message in that for the Prime Minister as well. We need to have that carbon tax election. That is going to be up to the Conservatives. We have said we are going to put forth a motion of non-confidence in the government at the first available opportunity. It is going to be up to the NDP and the Bloc to make a decision on whether they stand with a government that rewards insiders or stand up for Canadians who are working hard taking care of their neighbours, just desperately trying to provide for their families and have a better life. That was the promise in this country, that if we worked hard, we would be able to have a good life and afford a home. We always thought that as Canadians we would be able to welcome people into our country, that we would be able to work together, that we would be able to afford homes and we would be able to do better than the generation before us. Nine years of the NDP-Liberal government has broken the immigration system. The government is bringing people here under false pretenses, telling them there is going to be a home and a doctor for them. There is neither of those things, nor are there jobs. This is why we need to keep doing the important work of exposing the economic vandalism, the vandalism to trust in our democratic institutions that has happened after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government and the Prime Minister. We will keep doing that every single day until we have the election, because that is what Canadians are counting on. That is what I heard from the thousands of Canadians I talked to this summer, and I know that is what my colleagues heard. It is important that we have this conversation, this debate, about this important subject today. I look very forward to the comments from my hon. colleague, the member for Mégantic—L'Érable, because his community, the residents of his province, are suffering terribly. He knows that. He was connecting with them this summer. I look forward to his perspective as well, because Canadians deserve better than a corrupt NDP-Liberal government, and common-sense Conservatives are going to bring home real change.

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Mr. Mark Gerretsen (Kingston and the Islands, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 10:21:17 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, in the introduction of his speech, the member said that the current government is not interested in helping Canadians. Over the summer, I met an individual named George. George ran up to me with his brand new Canada dental care plan card, showing it so proudly to me and pointing to his two missing top front teeth and saying he could get his teeth fixed now because of the plan. George probably did not even really understand, or care for that matter, who was responsible for the plan or how it got there, but he knew that he could finally get his teeth fixed after years of not being able to do so because he could not afford to, as he told me. I want to know whether my neighbouring colleague can tell George whether he can still expect to be able to rely on a dental care program if Conservatives form government. Every Conservative asked that to this point has evaded answering the question. Will the member tell George that he can rely on that program or not, if Conservatives are elected?

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Mr. Michael Barrett

Sep/17/24 10:22:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, there have been nine years of an NDP-Liberal government with multiple cabinet ministers. The Liberal member heckling, the one who just asked the question, voted against the Auditor General investigations into the scandals perpetrated under the Prime Minister. It is a shocking failure of the Liberals' responsibility to Canadians, their fiduciary and moral responsibility to uphold the trust the Canadians put in us when we come here. Let us get to it. Let us talk about the Liberals' failure to protect Canadians from the corruption of the Prime Minister.

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Mr. René Villemure (Trois-Rivières, BQ)

Sep/17/24 10:23:27 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for his speech. Here is the problem I have with his speech: I get his point, but the miserable situation he described with such over-the-top zeal made me think he was talking about Kazakhstan, only worse. I would like the member to tell me where in Canada one might witness the vision he painted today.

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Mr. Michael Barrett

Sep/17/24 10:23:56 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the vision that I paint about what happens in Canada is evidenced on the streets in communities across this country, in every province including Quebec, where people are lined up at food banks and there are tent cities, devastating destruction, despair and even death. This was not something that happened before the destructive policies of the NDP-Liberal government, and Conservatives are going to fix it. I am very hopeful for what our country has in store, because it is built on such a strong foundation. The Liberals have not been able to destroy it in nine years. Life was not like this before the Prime Minister and is not going to be like it after him.

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Ms. Raquel Dancho (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:24:53 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, whenever the Conservatives talk about fiscal responsibility, all we hear from other parties is that Conservatives are going to cut, when really it is just their not admitting that they do not care about the future of the financial stability of our country at all. They do not want to balance the budget. They do not care how much they are burdening future generations. I ask the member where a Conservative government would find savings. It is really important that Canadians understand that Conservatives will take the financial responsibility of this country very seriously, so I would like to hear the member's remarks about where he thinks we can save taxpayers some of their hard-earned money.

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Mr. Michael Barrett

Sep/17/24 10:25:30 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is a real pleasure having the member for Kildonan—St. Paul back in the House. It is really great to see her here. We talk about what Conservatives are going to cut. We are going to cut the Liberals' $60-million arrive scam. We are going to cut their billion-dollar slush fund. We are going to cut all of the waste that we keep exposing. This weekend, they committed $2.14 billion to a company. Who is someone who has a real strong interest in that? Mark “carbon tax” Carney has a big interest in that company. Instead of providing Canadians who need it with high-speed Internet, for example, by the end of this year, they are going to take a decade more to not get it done, but they are going to make sure Mark “carbon tax” Carney gets rich while Canadians suffer.

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Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)

Sep/17/24 10:26:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent speech and for the opportunity he is giving us today to examine the Liberal government's incompetence and inability to govern the affairs of the state and of all Canadians. The motion before us reads as follows: That, in light of new reports that GC Strategies and other companies incorporated by the cofounders have received millions of dollars in government contracts, including a number of sole-sourced contracts, the committee request the Auditor General of Canada to conduct a performance audit, on a priority basis, of all payments to GC Strategies, and other companies incorporated by the cofounders.... It is very technical, but that is important because, sometimes, if one does not ask the right question, one does not get all the answers. Now, thanks to my colleague's motion, we will be able to get the answers, but only if we have the support of enough MPs to proceed. I will keep reading: ...and all contracts with the Government of Canada, including all departments, agencies and Crown corporations, including all subcontracts which GC Strategies and the before mentioned have been awarded under those contracts and that the committee report this request and these findings to the House. With hundreds of thousands of Canadians lining up at food banks after nine years of this Liberal government's inflationary policies and inflationary spending that has doubled the cost of housing and food since 2015, Canadians and Quebeckers might expect the government to manage their money efficiently. Unfortunately, as we saw in the case of GC Strategies and the Liberal green fund, or the “green slush fund” as many now call it, and as we saw in the case of the $21 billion in subcontracts awarded to outside consultants, the Liberal government sees its responsibility to Canadians and to government finances as a mere triviality. However, it is no trivial matter for Canadians who are unable to make ends meet at the end of the month. It is no trivial matter for families who cannot afford groceries and who are forced to make hard choices to feed their children or forced to decide between driving themselves to work or the kids to school. That is the new reality now, after nine years of this Prime Minister. The GC Strategies case illustrates the way this Liberal government operates, which, I would remind everyone, has caused Canadians to lose all confidence in this Prime Minister's ability to control both himself and the affairs of state. The example is being set from the top, and that is the problem. When the example is set from the top, when we have a Prime Minister who has twice been found guilty of ethics violations and his sole explanation and response to the Canadian public is that he takes full responsibility for his actions, yet he faces no financial penalty and no consequences other than having to utter that statement in the House, what sort of message does that send to the rest of the government, to all the deputy ministers, to all the people whose job it is to manage the public purse? It sends the message that they can cross the line and there will be no consequences. That, unfortunately, is what happened in the case of GC Strategies. I would remind members that the ArriveCAN app should have cost $80,000 but ended up costing $60 million. From $80,000 to $60 million: what a perfect illustration of the indolence this Liberal Prime Minister has infused into the workings of government since he was first elected nine years ago. Let us consider the situation as a whole. I too was out and about in my riding. Over the summer, I met with hundreds, if not thousands, of residents, and every one of them told me they struggle to pay their bills at the end of the month and asked me how things got to this point. There was GC Strategies, the use of consultants, the Liberal green fund and the $500 billion in inflationary spending supported by the Bloc Québécois. This spending inflated the economy, made more and more public funds available and drove up costs across the board. That is what happened. Unfortunately, I hear people laughing, but this is no laughing matter. There is nothing funny about people struggling to understand why they can no longer pay their bills when they used to be able to a few years ago. There is nothing funny about people getting their paycheque and discovering there is less and less money left over to pay their bills at the end of the month. This government, which has been propped up by the Bloc Québécois in recent years, has made things harder for people, even in Quebec. I am not referring to the wealthy or those receiving billions of dollars in contracts from this Liberal government. I am not referring to bankers or those who make money off of other people's money. I am referring to people who have to work hard in a factory, school or hospital. These are the people who are finding it harder to cope. These are the people we need to work for. These are the people we are here for, and it is for their sake that the Conservatives intend to introduce a common-sense plan to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime. I hear my Bloc colleagues saying “yeah right”. It seems they could not care less about what is going on. What I just heard is insulting. Needless to say, they have no clue what is going on. For them, there are no tent cities in Montreal and no spike in violent crime happening in Montreal and in regions across Quebec. Those things simply do not exist. The Bloc Québécois seems to be ignorant of Quebeckers' current realities. The Bloc will try to downplay the gravity of the situation because they want to keep propping up the Liberal government. They need to downplay the damage the Liberals have done over the past nine years so they can justify their support for this Liberal government. Given the comments I just heard, I cannot get over the way these people claim to stand up for Quebeckers' interests when they cannot even recognize that all Quebeckers are suffering after nine years under this Liberal government. I listened to the speeches that the Prime Minister and the ministers gave right before the House returned. They said that they would keep on doing what they are doing, that they would stay on course, but staying on course means even more street crime. It means more and more Quebeckers having to rely on food banks at the end of the month. It means fewer and fewer young families being able to afford a home. Fewer and fewer young families will be able to have a home, and fewer and fewer families will have access to housing, period. That is what will happen if the Liberal government stays on course, and that is what the Bloc Québécois wants. Standing up for Quebeckers' interests means making it possible for them to own a home, access housing, put food on the table at the end of the month and have bigger paycheques that enable them to make the right choices for their family. That would serve all Quebeckers' interests, not just the interests of Bloc Québécois supporters. That is why we are going to fight for the interests of all Quebeckers. That is why it is important to get to the bottom of the scandals in which this government is embroiled. That is why it is important that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP support us when it comes time to denounce the government and vote for a non-confidence motion against it so that voters can finally elect a common-sense government.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Sep/17/24 10:36:18 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is no surprise that the Conservatives have used day two as a way to prevent debate on legislation. We have seen this consistently over the years, and I will expand on that during my comments. Today, we were supposed to be debating the Citizenship Act. It would have been day two of the debate. It was in anticipation that, hopefully, the Conservatives would join the Bloc, the NDP and the government in recognizing the importance of the legislation. Does the Conservative Party have any intention of looking at legislation and making some suggestions with respect to the legislative agenda items it would like to see passed, or is it purely going to filibuster from this day forward?

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Sep/17/24 10:37:15 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, divide and distract is the Liberals' mantra. While I am talking about problems that affect all Quebeckers and all Canadians, namely the ability to put food on the table, find a place to live and pay rent, the only thing the Liberals and the government want to do is change the subject and pretend that these problems do not exist in Canada or Quebec. We need to shine a light on this Liberal government's corruption. We need to shine a light on this Liberal government's ineptitude and incompetence, and we need to do so in collaboration with every party in the House. We need to do it in collaboration with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, who must vote in favour of a non-confidence motion to stop the Liberals from continuing with business as usual.

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Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Sep/17/24 10:38:10 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is a bit ironic. First of all, let me offer a correction. The French word for “support” is “soutenir”, not “supporter”. It is obvious that my colleague works a lot in English. I will reassure him right away that that is not what we are doing. Our job is not to support the Liberals or to replace them with Conservatives. Our job is to work for Quebeckers and defend their interests, and despite all the disinformation my colleague spread, we agree 200% with the basic facts, namely that people are having a hard time making ends meet and that we need to do something about it. That is why, rather than trying to usurp power, we decided to focus on one priority, which is to increase old age security as of age 65. Strangely enough, ever since the new Conservative leader took over, we have not heard any more commitments from the Conservatives on this subject. I think that, as deputy leader, my colleague should be able to make a formal commitment. I would like him to give me a real answer, not just accuse me of changing the subject. Can we work together on old age security? Can we get this done quickly? Can we also get a guarantee that a Conservative government will not make cuts the day after the election?

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Sep/17/24 10:39:29 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague wants a real answer. Here is one that is simple and straightforward. We voted in favour of the Bloc Québécois bill on this matter. We voted in favour of it. To suggest otherwise would be false. Unfortunately, apart from claiming that I said things that were inaccurate, he could not identify a single one. On the contrary, all I said in my speech was that the Bloc Québécois has supported $500 billion in inflationary spending by this government. That is true; those are the figures, and everyone can see them. The Bloc Québécois does not want to commit to defeating this government at the earliest opportunity. That is also true. Quebeckers are struggling. Groceries are expensive. Housing prices have doubled. They increasingly cannot make ends meet. It is getting harder and harder for families to buy their first home. That is all true. Unfortunately, Bloc Québécois members do not seem to want to talk much about the problems, because they want this Liberal government to stick around a while longer. I do not think that is the best solution for Quebeckers.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Sep/17/24 10:40:40 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, with respect to affordability, his party brought in the GST. Later, under Stephen Harper, it brought in the HST, bribing other provinces to the tune of $6 billion in historic deficits and borrowing. Maybe my colleague can explain how the HST helps seniors with affordability, because it is a tax that was put on consumers instead of the businesses to which it gave corporate tax cut reductions. Could the party responsible for the GST and HST please explain how that has helped consumers by putting that debt on them versus the companies?

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Mr. Luc Berthold

Sep/17/24 10:41:26 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, the reason we are in this situation today, with housing prices doubling, food prices doubling and Canadians unable to make ends meet, is because the NDP signed a coalition agreement to support spending, thereby creating the current situation with the Liberal government.

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