Debates of May 2nd, 2024

Grocery Industry

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, while rich CEOs make record profits, families in Nanaimo—Ladysmith can barely put food on the table.

What is the Conservative leader doing about it? He is hosting a fundraiser with Canada's richest elites where it costs thousands just to step through the door. It is no wonder, when he was in power, the biggest corporations got $60 billion in handouts while services to British Columbians were gutted. The Liberals maintain these handouts.

Will the government end these corporate giveaways?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, I would agree with my colleague that it is disturbing to see the Leader of the Opposition siding with big corporate at a time when all Canadians should be united to put pressure on big grocery in this country.

If, on the other side, they are really honest about caring for Canadians, let them speak up. Let them tell Loblaw and Walmart to adopt the grocery code of conduct in this country. If we speak with one voice, we are going to improve the lives of Canadians. Are they going to do it?

Innovation, Science and Industry

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, Halifax is home to thousands of researchers with limitless potential, and it is essential to provide the support necessary to fully unleash that potential.

Halifax researchers are making advancements in ocean science, brain repair, lithium ion battery technology, pediatrics and so much more. Their work contributes to the economic and social prosperity of Canada and improves the lives of all Canadians.

Could the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry please tell us how budget 2024 would support research and researchers in Halifax and across Canada?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, what a great question from a great member. This is a colleague who has been advocating for research and science in this country.

Canada's research students are our greatest resource in this country. Researchers at Dalhousie University are pushing the boundaries of brain health, big data and ocean research. In budget 2024, we invested $3.4 billion in our world-leading talent. Students will see an increase in their stipends to support their research, which would attract the best and brightest.

The science of today is the economy of tomorrow. Let us invest in our futures together.

Finance

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, interest on the debt is exploding. The debt will continue to rise as long as spending remains out of control. The Bloc Québécois continues to support these centralizing Liberal policies, which are driving up the cost of living. For example, on December 13, the Bloc Québécois voted in support of over $20 billion in spending.

When will the Prime Minister, supported by the Bloc Québécois, stop his wasteful spending so Quebeckers can start living with dignity again?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to finally have a question about the economy, as it gives me the opportunity to share some good news from the Governor of the Bank of Canada. Today, he said that we have come a long way in the fight against inflation and that recent progress is encouraging.

This is the message I want to send to Canadians: We are getting closer to our goal. This is good news, and it is thanks to the hard work of Canadians.

I thank the member for this opportunity.

[Pierre Paul-Hus, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the Minister of Finance that 48% of Liberal voters think that their government is mismanaging public finances. That was in a Leger poll that came out recently. Worse still, the Bloc Québécois is pretending to be critical and to defend the interests of Quebec. It voted for $500 billion in additional budgetary allocations. Voting for the Bloc Québécois is certainly costly. It is the party that is propping up this country's fiscal disaster.

When will the Prime Minister, supported by the Bloc Québécois, stop his out-of-control spending and give Quebeckers a break?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, our colleague talks about mismanagement. Has he ever been told that in the entire term of the Leader of the Opposition, when he was the minister responsible for housing, he only built six affordable housing units in the entire country? In my colleague's riding alone in the past few months, and I have the updated number, 222 affordable housing units have been built. That is 222 units in his riding alone compared to six units during the entirety of the Conservative leader's term as minister responsible for housing.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if I am speaking to the Laval University professor or the Minister of Public Services and Procurement.

After nine years of this Prime Minister, the cost of living has never been higher. People are struggling. Mortgages, housing, food, everything costs more. This Liberal government is not worth the cost and neither is the Bloc Québécois.

As a small reminder, it is the Bloc Québécois who voted for a $500-billion budget. We are talking about $500 billion in centralist and inflationary spending supported by the Bloc Québécois.

When will this Prime Minister stop his wasteful spending so that Quebeckers do not have to turn to food banks and can live in dignity again?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, this is another opportunity to talk about the economy. First, we have a responsible fiscal policy. We also have a AAA credit rating, the highest there is. I just quoted the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who talked about the good progress being made on inflation.

The Conservatives' only policy is austerity, cuts and more cuts. I am talking about cuts to child care, cuts to the school nutrition program, cuts to Radio-Canada, which is so important to Quebeckers.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of budget chaos, this government, supported by the Bloc Québécois, continues to promote inflationary spending and throw money out the window. The Bloc Québécois talks about the importance of health transfers, but it is voting for $500 billion in centralizing spending. The interest on that will be more than total health transfer amounts.

The more this government spends, the more the Bloc Québécois supports it. When will the Prime Minister stop wasting Canadian taxpayers' money?

[François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians listening to us today understand that they have a choice to make. On one side of the House, they hear the voice of a party that has no ambition, no vision and no plan for the future.

On this side of the House, they know they have a Liberal government, a government that has a vision for the future, a government that has a plan for future generations, a government that has ambition for our country. I am telling Canadians to listen to what they are hearing. They will realize that those of us on this side of the House are going to fight for them every day.

Natural Resources

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we have learned that greenhouse gas emissions increased between 2021 and 2022. They are going up when they should be going down.

The worst part is that they are going to keep going up because Ottawa just opened Trans Mountain yesterday. The Minister of Environment has just completely turned on the dirty oil tap. An additional 600,000 barrels a day are being siphoned out of the oil sands for export.

Can the minister explain how his dirty oil pipeline will help us reduce our emissions?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his question and remind him that, in 2022, greenhouse gas emissions were 44 million tonnes lower than they were in 2019, before the pandemic. That is the equivalent of taking 13 million cars off our roads.

In fact, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are the lowest they have been in 25 years, since the O.J. Simpson trial and the birth of hockey player Conor McGregor. Things are going very well in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, I agree with my colleague that there is still a lot of work to be done.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Greenpeace told CBC that a missing link in the federal climate plan is a cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector. The minister must be glad that there is no cap because, with Trans Mountain, he would have smacked his head, and hard.

This serves to remind us that Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil monarchy. With Trans Mountain, it is consolidating its ranking, between Russia and Iraq, at the top of the list of the worst polluters. We know the minister never imagined that he would be a “petromonarch”, so will he ever put an end to his country's greed for black gold?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague was quoting Greenpeace.

In that same interview, Greenpeace acknowledged that progress was being made in Canada and that this year's results were very encouraging, but that more needed to be done.

I would like to remind my colleague that there is just one country in the entire G20 that has eliminated fossil fuel subsidies. That country is Canada, and we are committed to going even further by eliminating public funding, something no other country in the world has committed to doing. The cap on greenhouse gas emissions is coming. We are the only major oil producer in the world that has proposed putting a cap on these emissions.

Finance

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years, the Bloc Québécois and the Prime Minister are not worth the cost.

The Bloc Québécois has always sided with the Liberals when it comes to government spending. We are talking about $500 billion in centralizing, inflationary spending here. Ouch, that hurts. This spending increases the cost of living and keeps interest rates high. Because of this Liberal government, backed by the Bloc Québécois, Quebeckers are going hungry, are struggling to afford housing and cannot make ends meet.

When will this Bloc Québécois-backed Prime Minister stop wasting money so Quebeckers can afford housing and food again?

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to have another opportunity to quote the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who shared some very good news with Canadians today. He said, and I quote, “The message to Canadians is, we are getting closer”. He also said that it is our government's fiscal responsibility that has stabilized inflation and will allow us to reduce the key policy rate.

Ethics

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, the employment minister has been caught in shady lobbying, and we can see that the Prime Minister and his government certainly are not worth the cost or the corruption.

The minister was caught cashing cheques from a lobbying firm that was lobbying his own government, his own ministry. How much taxpayer cash did this minister and his company shove in their pockets? How much was it?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Greg Fergus]

Order.

The hon. government House leader has the floor.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the minister has always followed the very strict ethics rules that apply to him as an elected official. Canada has one of the strictest ethics regimes in the world for elected officials, and that is exactly what Canadians expect. The minister has always conducted himself in an ethical manner that follows the spirit and letter of those rules.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government, we know the fish rots from the head down, and the Prime Minister was twice found guilty of breaking ethics laws, along with multiple members of his front bench and his backbench.

We know the minister tried to hide that he was getting money from his company that was lobbying his own government, even his own ministry, but he got caught. Global News reported it, and now we are asking him about it.

Instead of having the government House leader protect him from his own accountability, his own actions, will he stand up today and tell us how much money he took?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I just gave that answer.

Indigenous Affairs

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Red Dress Day is coming up. It is recognized for being an important way to raise awareness of the alarming rates of violence.

There are growing calls for the introduction of a red dress alert system. This system would be crucial in promptly informing the public whenever an indigenous woman, girl or two-spirited person goes missing.

Can the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations share with us what measures are being taken to address this critical issue?