Question Period – November 20, 2023

[Applause] after eight years of this liberal government this prime minister is just not worth the cost according to the PBO and the governor of the Bank of Canada I'm right this liberal prime minister is adding to inflation and interest rates scoa bank has said that these deficits are increasing interest rates by 2% that means enough other $700 per month for paying the average mortgage before Canadians lose their homes will this prime minister finally accept my Common Sense plan and announce a date and a plan for balancing the budget and reducing inflation and interest [Applause] rates The Honorable president of the treasury board Mr Speaker unlike the conservatives our government has a plan to help Canadians to get through this difficult period for example we are helping 4 million Canadians with the Canada workers benefit we are also helping 6 million Canadians thanks to in indexing old age security what is the conservative plan no the fact is they don't have [Applause] one speaker after eight years this prime minister is not worth the cost of mortgage payments which are already up 150% and the Bank of Canada and the Parliamentary budget officer now agree with me that his deficits are driving up interest rates Scotia Bank says deficits are driving mortgage rates up 2% that works out to $700 per month while carpenters and nurses are already living in their cars and the IMF says Canada's mortgage holders that are the most at risk of Crisis will the Prime Minister Prime finally accept my Common Sense plan and announce the date and the plan to balance the budget and bring down interest rates on Canadian mortgages so people don't lose their [Applause] homes The Honorable president of the treasury board Mr Speaker let's be clear and accurate much of that spending referred to by the leader of the opposition was provincial in nature not federal Mr speaker and in addition unlike the conservatives Mr Speaker we actually have a plan to help Canadians especially vulnerable Canadians and the Deputy Prime Minister will table additional aspects of that plan tomorrow in the fall economic statement but let's be clear we are here for Canadians every single step of the way unlike the party opposite that votes against every single time Mr Speaker The Honorable leader of the opposition Mr Speaker the prime minister's plan is to increase mortgage payments by 150% which is already done and now Scotia Bank says government deficits have added two percentage points to interest rates that works out to $700 a month or $8,400 a year in higher mortgage payments linked directly to deficits including the massive def by this government a year ago they promised a balance budget they broke the promise 6 months later will they come back tomorrow with a plan to balance the budget so we can bring down interest rates and inflation so that Canadians can keep their [Applause] homes The Honorable Minister for housing uh Mr Speaker with respect we have a plan that's going to build more homes is going to restore a level of affordability in the market where we are cutting taxes on home build ERS he wants to raise them where we are funding cities to increase our ambition on home building he wants to cut them Mr Speaker it is hard to accept criticisms from a member of the House of Commons who when he had the opportunity to be the minister responsible for housing had access to $300 million and only got 99 homes built Mr Speaker we are going to build homes and we are going to build them by the millions here [Applause] here y The Honorable leader of the opposition Mr Speaker when I was housing Minister mortgage payments were less than half of what they are now and rent was less than half of what it is now those are the hard realities and now his plan the prime minister's plan is to quadruple the carbon tax quadruple it that will increase the cost of gas heat groceries and yes even housing because it takes trucks to ship those buildings materials we know that we will have a carbon tax election to decide on whether we ask the tax as I choose or whether we hike it as he promises but can we accept a Canadian compromise and at least freeze the tax in the meantime yes or [Applause] no The Honorable me Minister for housing and infrastructure Mr Speaker it's interesting to listen to this version of Rous history of The Honorable member's time as ad Minister responsible for housing if we actually go back and look at the numbers you're going to see that he actually had housing starts less than 200,000 a year Mr Speaker this morning we've seen data that shows that we're on Pace to build more than 256,000 this year if we want to compare apples to apples Mr Speaker we're going to make a difference do you like apples we're going to beat his numbers how do you like them apples The Honorable leader of the opposition I think the minister should stick to photo ops because comedy is surely not his thing neither are numbers Mr Speaker everything the Prime Minister has said about this stantis subsidy is proven false one it's billions of dollars over budget before shovels in the ground years behind payback even before the project begins and he claimed that it was going to CL create jobs for Canadians we now learn that at least 1,500 or a majority of the jobs are going to go to temporary foreign workers will the prime minister release the contract now so that we can find out how much Canadian taxpayers are going to have to spend to give paychecks to South Korean workers The Honorable Minister for housing and infrastructure Mr Speaker during the covid-19 pandemic he opposed spending that was supporting families now during a national housing crisis he opposes government Investments that are actually going to get more homes built and when we have the the opportunity to make generational Investments that's going to gain a toe hold in a new industry he opposes it without vision for what the future economy could be when we create many thousands of jobs Mr Speaker we're going to continue to invest in the Canadian economy and put workers in in make sure they bring home paychecks that are going to put food on the table for their families [Applause] here The Honorable member for Lai Mr Speaker tomorrow is the economic update the minister of Finance needs to understand that fiscal rigor doesn't mean that we should have austerity on the backs of small businesses more than 2 120,000 smmes may go bankrupt if the minister doesn't extend reimbursing the Canada emergency business account without losing the grants the National Assembly of Quebec is asking for that extension provincial Premier are asking for it everyone is asking the Federal Government Federal Government to give ourmes more flexibility it's unanimous will the minister finally give businesses the extension they need so much [Applause] tomorrow The Honorable Minister Mr Speaker small businesses have asked for our help that's why our government put off the maximum eligibility date putting it off into 2024 we have also announced an extension on refunding certain loans until the end of 2026 our government is always listening to small businesses The Honorable member for Lai Mr Speaker entrepreneurs are tired of hearing this in the economic update the minister should also keep her promises to families who can no longer pay for groceries during the election the Liberals promised a billion dollars over 5 years to fund School Meal programs tomorrow the minister must make this election promise a reality fiscal rigor is not the same thing as is not the same thing as austerity and some people are not able to feed their families will the minister keep a promise tomorrow and announce that she is transferring money to Quebec for food assistance in schools The Honorable Minister I'd like to thank my colleague for his question many Canadians are having a hard time putting food on the table and we're working with provinces territories municipalities key stakeholders as we work to develop a national school food policy we are doing the hard work now together with our partners understanding the importance of moving forward together we'll continue this progress thank you Mr Speaker The Honorable member for Mr Speaker people are struggling to pay for rent and groceries in Montreal people are actually coming together to help to help food banks that are buckling under the stange and meanwhile big CEOs are Wrecking in the profits La BLS alone brought in $18 billion dollars in profits in a single semester we've never seen that before their greed is boundless and the Liberals are doing nothing to stop them tomorrow is a concrete opportunity to help people will the Liberals have the courage to lower food prices and to do something about CEO greed [Applause] I'm sorry to interrupt the minister but there was no interpretation The Interpreter apologizes the mic was off interpretation is is now back I will ask the honorable president of the treasury board to resume from the beginning please thank you Mr Speaker well we know that the affordable groceries Act is very important to our country and we will continue to support the bill that we are debating because that is crucial at this time in our country and I would like to thank all of our colleagues here in the house for supporting us with this important piece of legislation we will continue to be there for the Canadian public The Honorable member from Elmwood Transcona well thank you Mr Speaker Bill c56 certainly and I think after some improvement by new Democrats is going to help a little bit with the housing crisis but it's certainly not going to solve the housing crisis the fall economic statement is an important opportunity to make further progress both on the housing crisis and the affordability crisis we've got funds that that have been depleted for social housing that need to be re replenished and there's further work to do on strengthening competition uh laws in Canada so are these initiatives that we're going to see in the fall economic statement or Canadians going to be left waiting Again The Honorable Minister for housing uh infrastructure and communities uh Mr Speaker I Thank The Honorable member for his question he knows that he and I will both wait for tomorrow to see the details of the Fall economic statement however I do want to Signal my intent to continue the pattern of investment in affordable housing and particular that's going to make sure everyone in this country has a safe and affordable place to call home Mr Speaker over the 30 years that preceded our time in government governments of different stripe chose not to make the necessary Investments to ensure that we had sufficient affordable housing stock we're going to continue to make the Investments that are necessary and affordable housing to restore something to the ecosystem and that's a level of affordability that we desperately need The Honorable member from Calgary Forest Lawn after eight long years a governor of the Bank of Canada confirmed that this prime minister and his scam of the century the carbon tax are not worth the cost scrapping the scam would put a massive dent in inflation and help lower interest rates faster all at a time when Canadians are choosing between eating and heating their homes because of liberal inflation and because of the carbon tax will the Finance Minister accept our conservative leaders common sense ask to ask their plans to quad quadruple quadruple quadruple quadruple their carbon tax in tomorrow's false promise update yes or no [Applause] y The Honorable parliamentary secretary thank you very much Mr Speaker and uh I'm I'm truly glad to hear the conservative member opposite be so so excited for tomorrow's fall economic update Mr Speaker you see um the Minister of Finance and the deputy Prim Minister will be in this house at 4 P.M tomorrow to reveal our books and to show the plan that we have prepared for Canadians Mr Speaker this is an important moment of transparency for Canadians to see where we are at and where we are going an important moment as well for conservatives to actually see the numbers and use the facts in order to have intelligent debate in this house excellent The Honorable member from Calgary Forest La well more photo ops aren't going to help anyone here in Canada Mr Speaker and what we won't do as a conservative government is create two classes of Canadians like this liberal NDP government did by giving 3% of Canadians in Atlantic Canada where the prime minister's poll numbers were tanking a break while the rest of Canadians get absolutely nothing and have to freeze and starve in the dark 2 million Canadians are visiting a food bank in a month this in just a single month this prime minister is not worth the cost after 8 years will they cancel their plan to quadruple their carbon tax in tomorrow's false hopes update yes or no The Honorable Minister for natural resources thank you Mr Speaker what the honorable member says is both factually Incorrect and grossly misleading we have put a price on pollution in this country one that actually helps us to address the the existential threat that is climate change but do so in a manner that is Affordable eight out of 10 Canadian families get more money back than they pay in the carbon price it is a manner that is Affordable for Canadians at the same time taking on and addressing what is a a clear threat to the future of our children it is such a shame that in this country we still have a political party that doesn't believe that climate change is real The Honorable member from Sinco North Mr Speaker after eight years of V of control spending by this liberal government experts at scoler bank now say that two percentage point of interest rate increases are due to government spending an extra 2% on mortgage cost means over $8,000 a year for Canadian borrowers Canadians are realizing this prime minister's not worth the cost when Scotia Bank says you're richer than you think they didn't mean spend like drunken Sailors so um what date will the government balance the [Applause] budget The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker let's speak about balance because our government believes that you can balance compassion with fiscal responsibility and that is what we have shown up to date Mr Speaker Canada continues to have the lowest deficit among all G7 countries Canada continues to have the lowest debt to GDP ratio among all G7 countries and the Very report that that member is citing Mr Speaker states that the major drivers of interest rate increases were Co supports and provincial spending not federal spending but provincial spending Mr Speaker Mr Speaker we won't apologize for having Canadians backs while being responsible here here The Honorable member from Sinco North Mr Speaker my message for any provincial Premier is the same as a message for the Prime Minister take responsibility for the government spending because it's driving inflation and making interest rates unaffordable for Canadians the Bank of Canada says that all governments need to spend less than 2% in order to keep inflation under control this own government's projections in the budget in the spring says that this government will spend over 3 and a half% growth next year versus this year so when are they going to get it they are part of the problem they have to balance a budget so Canadians can keep their [Applause] homes The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker the member opposite talks about responsibility it's this government that took its responsibility seriously when times were tough when covid hit and even today Mr Speaker we continue to have Canadians backs we don't just talk about compassion Mr Speaker we act in that manner by being there for vulnerable Canadians by being there in order to lift over 2.3 million Canadians out of poverty by ensuring over one million more Canadians have a job today than they did before covid Mr Speaker we are there for Canadians while being fiscally responsible and I am certainly looking forward to tomorrow's fiscal update sh The Honorable member for shal Mr Speaker for eight years we've seen this NDP liberal government with their friends in the block keua spend without any form of control experts at Scotia Bank calculated that these excessive forms of spending will add two percentage points to Canada's interest rates which represents $8,000 per year in additional cost for the average mortgage this government could help quebecers face the cost of living will it listen to The Experts stop spending so much and announc a return to a balanced budget in its mini budget tomorrow the honor The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker I'm so pleased to see this enthusiasm about the economic statement tomorrow but I would like to hear my colleague from Quebec on the other hand talk about what he's considering in his austerity plan is he thinking that we should make cuts to the new child care spaces that we've made is he thinking that we should cut supports for our seniors is that it I think my colleague should be specific at this point we will be listening The Honorable member The Honorable member for Shu well the first thing weed cut is useless spending like on a RVE can and various other expenses during Co that even the Parliamentary budget officer has no idea what it was for that's hundreds of millions of dollars that was spent on nothing we have an incredibly long list of such expenses from this government if we cut all that out we get back to a balanced budget and Canadians would do a lot better will this prime minister come back to a balanced budget tomorrow in the economic statement yes or no The Honorable minister of Transport well this colleague just said that he would have cut the costs we use drink covid now that's all over now first of all but also he wants to make other types of cuts because that's these conservatives policy what exactly would they cut child care help for seniors or would he do nothing about climate change he wants us to do less on women's rights on human rights on and he really wants to bring us back to the Stone Age The Honorable member for Mr Speaker once again we need to talk about this Federal government's management of the borders r k has revealed that Mexican drug cartels are taking advantage of this government's negligence and it's taking advantage of that to make a fortune for example they're producing fake Mexican passports to help smuggle people to Canada than the US Mr Speaker both the RCMP and cus alerted the minister of Public Safety about this last spring what has the government been doing since the spring to Take Back Control of its own borders The Honorable Minister Mr Speaker of course we share all Canadians concerns about the Integrity of our borders and that is why we have invested more to strengthen our security posture at the border that is why I went to Washington a month and a half ago I spoke with I spoke with the Americans about how we can further cooperate I also spoke with Quebec's minister of Public Safety we will continue to increase officers at the border to ensure that safety there is maintained The Honorable member for Mr Speaker I repeat there is a human smuggling Network at the Canadian border organized by Mexican drug cartels and the federal government knows all about that because our intelligence Services told the government what was happening the quec government is very concerned in fact it said that at some point someone is going to is going to have to wake up in Ottawa the Quebec government also said that the federal government is unfortunately not doing its work and Quebec is having to take on that burden Mr Speaker when will this government finally Take Back Control of its own Borders The Honorable Minister Mr Speaker it's not that I want to disagree with my colleague but we have not lost control of the border on the contrary Mr Speaker we are working closely with our intelligence and Security Services as much as possible under Canadian intelligence legislation we are sharing information to enable our partners whether American Mexican Canadian including our Quebec Partners to enable them to do everything they can to better secure our borders and I'm looking forward to continuing these positive discussions with minister in Quebec on this topic The Honorable member for Alexa Mr Speaker just for a second put yourself in the shoes of people trying to leave Mexico they're willing to do a lot to leave their country especially because of the cartels cartels that have tendrils everywhere and absolutely no respect for human life and then imagine how they feel when they get to Canada and they realize that the same old cartels are controlling the Border here those same cartels even in Canada are going to make money off them Mr Speaker when will this government finally show some Humanity when will it finally Take Back Control of the Border The Honorable Minister Mr Speaker a few moments ago I said that we as a government have taken action right from the beginning of the situation to protect our border we have spoken with our American and Mexican Partners we we have spoken about the importance of controlling irregular migration and we have invested a great deal more in Border Safety Services and our intelligence Services exactly in order to do everything we can to continue to keep our border safe of course we are always looking for new good ideas to better improve the situation The Honorable member from Sur sorry South sui uh White Rock after 8 years of this NDP liberal government and two years of their housing accelerator photo ops are up exponentially but investment in housing construction is down 14% the Prime Minister promised to make housing more affordable what has he delivered nothing but photos of suits in Boots Canada has the lowest number of housing units per capita in the G7 this prime minister is not worth the cost when will he put aside his photo op Obsession and focus on roofs overheads and keys [Applause] indoors The Honorable Minister for housing infrastructure and communities uh Mr Speaker it's an excellent question if only if we're based in fact the member has claimed that in fact investment in housing has gone down I read from the stats candidate report issued just this morning that multi-unit construction Rose 8.2% to $6.6 billion

in September with all provin reported gains Mr Speaker residential builds up 7.3% to 12.9 billion with respect to the housing accelerator fund we have deals with Kitchener Calgary Colona cities across the country totaling over the next 10 years more than 175,000 more homes they promise to cut it The Honorable member from South Sur White Rock Mr Speaker photo ops don't build homes we need more homes in Canada a lot more not less 14% less year-over-year is what failure looks like we need homes not bureaucracy since this housing Minister took over investment in housing construction is still plummeting down 14% year overy year after 8 years rent and down payments have doubled and mortgages are up 150% when will this prime minister stop the photo ops let Builders build so Canadians can move into homes they can afford yeah The Honorable Minister for housing infrastructure and communities Mr Speaker I hate to Delight in such a moment where the honorable member in good faith tries to pose a question but just doesn't have the facts she has claimed that investment has plummeted literally on the day that stats Canada has indic indicated its increased by 7.3% Mr Speaker when it comes to the strategy we're going to use to build more homes we're going to change the math to make it uh work for Builders by reducing ring taxes they plan to raise it we want to change the way that cities build homes by putting money on the table they plan to cut it we will make the Investments necessary we will engage with the sector and other levels of government to get more homes built Whatever It Takes The Honorable member from North humbl and Peter Peter Boro South thank you Mr Speaker after eight years this NDP liberal government millions of Canadians can never afford to buy a home millions of Canadians can't afford to keep their home according to a recent Scotia Bank report according to recent Scotia Bank report the cost of the average mortgage is going to go up by more than $700 because of their propagate spending when will these liberals stop blaming everyone else and finally take responsibility for the housing crisis they cause yes The Honorable Minister for housing infrastructure and communities Mr Speaker if the honorable member wants to do something to help with the housing crisis right now he can talk to his leader and tell him to stop blocking the cut to the GST that's going to unlock hundreds of thousands of homes across this country Mr Speaker we are cutting taxes for Home Building they plan to raise them we are putting on money on the table to get more cities to change the way that they build homes they want to cut it and Mr Speaker if his concern is around spending driving inflation I would ask him to imagine a world where we decided not to support households not to support businesses through the pandemic we would be dealing with millions of Canadians who would have lost their home years ago we are going to make the Investments to millions in the years ahead here here The Honorable member from nunut if the Liberals say that they will do whatever it takes for housing nun needs 250 million 13d of Nunavut live in homes needing major repairs and over 50% in my writing are in overcrowded homes the situation is so bad that TB outbreaks in two more communities were announced early earlier this year last year the government of nunut asked the Liberals for 200 million to build urgently needed housing so far they got zero will the Minister of Finance announce tomorrow the housing funding that Nunavut desperately needs The Honorable Minister thank you Mr Speaker and I thank uh the member for that very important question we are fully engaged with the government of nunit with any what right holders on this this important issue uh in 2022 we announced $4 billion for indigenous rights holders including 800 million uh for uh Inuit rights holders we have $4 billion uh as well for the rural Northern and urban strategy something we were going to roll out in the months to come The Honorable member from Winnipeg center speaker Winnipeg is in a dire housing crisis as of last year 6,000 people were on a wait list for public housing people are freezing to death in bus shelters the Winnipeg city council is voting to change zoning laws in hopes that this government will grant the required funding to deal with the housing crisis people are dying in the streets will the Liberals commit to the 192 million of requested funding to build new housing stock and treat Winnipeg's housing crisis with the urgency it deserves here [Applause] here The Honorable Minister for housing communities and infrastructure uh Mr Speaker I want to say thank you to my honorable colleague for the urgency with which she uh intends to address the housing crisis in Winnipeg I'm pleased to share that I most recently met with the mayor of Winnipeg just this morning I've been engaging with the city over the course of the last number of weeks and months in order to help facilitate the very reforms that the council will be debating we have put Federal money on the table to incentivize cities like Winnipeg right across the country to change the way that they allow homes to get built we're going to continue to work with the most ambitious cities in Canada and use that fun Federal funding to get more homes built for Canadians here The Honorable member from Sudbury sbur exuse a week ago the minister of Labor tabled legislation to ban replacement workers a commitment we made to Canadians in 2021 since tbling the bill workers and unions have applauded this historic move yet yet 11 days later the leader of the opposition still hasn't taken a position on the legislation he's had enough time to study it so why is he hesitating to support workers can the minister of Labor advised why the leader of the opposition should stand on the side of Working Families instead of corporate lobbyists honorable members many issues have been brought up regarding how questions are relevant to the question of the administration of the house uh administration of the government rather or questions regarding uh committee chairs I will be issuing a ruling after question period after the votes that are going to be happening here but I see that the minister has uh stood up on his feet and intends to answer I will allow the minister to take this if he's so desires but uh members should be aware of uh the ruling that will be coming from the speaker shortly Mr Speaker we are proud to have tabled legislation to ban the use of replacement workers workers have been asking for this legislation longer than this country has existed this legislation will keep unions and employers at the bargaining table because Mr Speaker that's where the powerful paychecks are created at the bargaining table members of other parties understand the importance of this bill and I hope that members opposite will as well but then again this is a leader who Champion two of the most anti-worker anti-union bills that this house has ever seen will he support the bill The Honorable member from Lethbridge the Prime Minister promised to make life more affordable for Canadians when he took office but after eight years of this liberal government rent has doubled morgage payments have skyrocketed and housing prices have doubled as well just in today we found out that housing construction rates are actually down by 14% concerning investment only this liberal government would use a housing accelerator fund to decelerate housing contrary to Liberal belief photo ops don't build houses I know this is news so so when will the housing Minister stop the photo ops and actually get some work done [Music] here The Honorable The Honorable Minister for housing infrastructure and communities uh Mr Speaker if the honorable member has concerns about the use of photo ops I'd suggest she discuss with her leader why he shows up a projects that he had nothing to do with to take a photo and then uses homelessness as a political prop for his social media Mr Speaker the reality is that member knows that we have a plan to build more homes it's to cut taxes and to put money on the table for Home Building they want to raise taxes and cut that money for Home Building Mr Speaker I was in The Honorable members uh Province just last week announcing a $228 million agreement that's going to see the City of Calgary add more than 35,000 homes over the next 10 years we're going to continue to do the work that's necessary to get there The Honorable member from Lethbridge what the honorable member knows is this rent prices have doubled house prices have doubled mortgage rates have skyrocketed and investment in housing construction is down 14% this Minister just isn't getting the job done despite his promises to Canadians so when will he stop the photo ops and actually get to work so that Canadians can have a roof over their [Applause] head The Honorable member The Honorable Minister rather for housing infrastructure and communities uh Mr Speaker with respect to the honorable memb she's saying that Investments are down in her Province stats candidate indicated this morning it's up 10.6% the reality is the numbers are continuing to increase because of the measures we're putting on the table when we decided to eliminate GST we saw announcements that are going to lead to 300,000 homes over the next decade with respect to the housing accelerator fund the changes cities are making so far have unlocked 175,000 homes Mr Speaker we are going to continue to make the Investments necessary to get more homes built over and above the hundreds of thousands that the National Housing strategy has already delivered I The Honorable member for me thank you Mr Speaker Mr Speaker I have in my hands a copy of the first page of the local newspaper of Tedford mines after eight years of the liberal government's inflationary policies here is a sad reality in our regions and I will read for you rise in food support needs in Tedford minds and sco bank has confirmed that liberal spending has made interest rates in Rise by 2% this rise is felt by families who are increasingly going to food banks to feed themselves will the Prime Minister stop his massive overspending and tell us when exactly when we will have a balanced budget The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker there have been many questions in a row about housing from the conservative party but I find find that surprising because we are currently debating a bill in this house that will enable more Home Building throughout the country and the bill will also stabilize grocery prices everywhere in Canada Mr Speaker on October 5th about 46 days ago Mr Speaker the conservative member for Mission watsu Fraser Canyon he finally understood that he should vote forour bill so can he convinced the conservative leader who seems to be uncertain The Honorable member for Mr Speaker in a message on social media the leader of the block iqua said to want the balance of power but he doesn't say how he will balance a liberal budget for instance we know that the block supports the Liberals inflationary spending the block will now keep the Liberals in power over the next two years the block supports drastic increases in carbon taxes and inflationary deficits the block wants to keep the Liberals in power it's costly to vote block Mr Speaker will the Prime Minister continue sending more and more kers to food banks just to get the support of the block iqua both these parties want to drastically increase taxes at the expense of [Applause] Canadians once again as I said to the member for Sudbury it is important to have questions that relate to the administration of the government but the speaker will issue a ruling on that soon I don't see any ministers or parliamentary secretaries Rising so we will now go to order please order please is there [Music] the member for sanan has the floor Mr Speaker we already knew that the Liberals were planning to give an 8 billion military aircraft contract to Boeing without tendering thus excluding Bombardier and Quebec's expertise now the Americans are putting pressure on them the US ambassador to Canada has written to Liberal ministers asking them to oppose a call for tenders Mr Speaker I remind the Liberals that they work for their constituents not for Washington and I remind liberals that they owe it to their constituents to ensure that they are purchasing the best aircraft by letting Bombardier bid for the contract will the liberal government finally issue a call for tenders The Honorable Minister Patrol aircraft is a vital capability of the Canadian Armed Forces and it's used for a wide variety of operations they must be replaced to ensure that we continue to have this vital capability we know that defense procurement is a key driver of economic activity and the government of Canada has made it very clear the benefits to Canadian economy and to our defense and Aerospace sectors is a key consideration in the decision that we will be [Applause] making the honorable member for sanan Mr Speaker Quebec's Aerospace industry isn't asking for a handout it's just asking to be able to compete it's asking the federal government to give Quebec workers a chance to put their expertise to good use before gifting 8 billion doll in public funds to the United States Mr Speaker it's normal for the US ambassador to defend Boeing an American company because that's his job what's not normal though is that the federal government is not even giving kqu companies a chance to compete when is this government going to do its job and issue a call for tenders The Honorable minister thank you Mr Speaker and I thank my colleague for raising this very important question she said that we should do our job and that's exactly what we are doing we are meeting the demands and needs of National Defense and we are also supporting our Aerospace industry in Quebec and in Canada there are 20,000 jobs in support of our Aerospace industry in Canada and almost 220 billion dollars of uh Financial activity and investment every year and we will continue to support them to have the sorry The Honorable uh member of parent from uh Leeds Grenville thousand idland R Lakes years of this prime minister it's easy to see is not worth the cost as the seams come apart of this billion dooll green slush fund the NDP liberal government's handpick chair funneled more than $200,000 to her own company and then put $120,000 of that into her own Pockets now she's being investigated by the ethics commissioner so she resigned days after the chief executive officer we're just scratching the surface on the latest of this prime minister's many scandals and Canadians want to know who got [Applause] rich The Honorable parliamentary secretary have a supp distributees tax fa dollars however independent uh of the federal government Ministry we all should expect them to do so responsibly and that's why the minister of innovation acted immediately when allegations of mismanagement surface we Frozen funds ordered an independent review are collaborating with the auditor general and both the CEO and the and the board chair have step down we are holding sdtc accountable and we're committed to getting to the bottom of of this issue thank you The Honorable member from Leeds Grenville Thousand Islands R Lakes they're not holding anyone accountable let's just get a couple facts on the record the board chair handpicked by this prime minister funnel more than $200,000 to her own company so the ethics commissioner launched an investigation and she quit they found more than $40 million in ineligible payments so the auditor general launched an investigation and the CEO quit this government is doing absolutely nothing so before the paper shredders get fired up over at Green slush fund headquarters will the minister agree that a parliamentary inquiry needs to be expanded so we can get all the information in the latest Scandal involving this prime minister and their corrupt government SEC theable secretary the member office question he's not entitled to his own facts we know that the board chair of sdtc was appointed by multiple governments including a conservative government in the past the minister of innovation has accepted the resignation of the chair of the board of sttc a process will begin soon to find a new leadership team our government is committed to ensure that organizations which receive federal funding adhere to the highest standards of governance and we are committed to getting to the bottom of the allegations thank you The Honorable member for Mr Speaker after eight years of this liberal government there is a familiar smell here in this chamber the smell of liberal Scandal the president of sustainable development technology Canada in imagine she's a liberal appointee and a friend of the Prime Minister and she confirmed that she had used the green fund to give a $217,000 grant to her own company Mr Speaker when and how does the government intend to recover taxpayers money from the green fund that is enriching the prime minister's liberal [Music] [Applause] Pals The Honorable parliamentary secretary let me uh say again uh Mr Speaker the conservatives are not entitled to their facts in this matter we are committed to getting to the bottom of the allegations and that's why we've acted responsibly and responded to hold sdtc accountable we know that the chair of the board was appointed by multiple governments including the conservative government of past and the Min minister of innovation has accepted the resignation of the chair of the board and a process will begin very shortly to ensure that a new leadership team is appointed thank you The Honorable member The Honorable member for thank you Mr Speaker artists and creators are operating in a cultural reality where nowadays the way we consume M movies and TV shows and music is very different there has been a major transformation households are unsubscribing from cable to watch shows online but one thing has not changed and that is the importance of having stories made by us and for us can the minister tell us about plans to ensure the protection and promotion of Canadian content and creators on online platforms thank you very much the honorable minister of Canadian Heritage Mr Speaker my colleague is very right the audiovisual landscape has totally changed since the broadcasting Act was first introduced and that's why we are modernizing it to adapt it to today's Digital Universe in fact recently I met with actors in the cultural sector to announce the final policy directive which aims to protect users and support jobs in Canada we want journalists and artists and everyone in the creative industry can have a strong presence online the only people who don't understand that are the conservatives who opposed at every stage of us modernizing the act and it was really shameful Mr Speaker The Honorable member from brownford Brand Mr Speaker after eight years it's time for this NDP liberal government to end the coverups and come clean with Canadians about the arrive Camp Scandal two senior bureaucrats were caught lying to committee about their role in hiring a two-person basement company for the $54 million arrive scam with cozy relationships with this government GC strategies was hired over deoe Microsoft and Apple outrageous which liberal Minister hired the company and paid them 11 million taxpayer dollars for doing absolutely [Applause] nothing The Honorable Minister speaker we've Mr Speaker we've said repeatedly that we expect all public officials responsible for Contracting to follow the appropriate rules in this case the Canadian Border Services Agency identified irregularities during a routine audit and referred the matter to the appropriate authorities that are investigating and Mr Speaker people who did not follow the appropriate Contracting rules will face the consequences according to law even ministers The Honorable member from calary mindport after eight years of this liberal and DP government one thing is clear they have no respect for the Canadian taxpayer GC strategies a twers company working out of their basement got paid $1 million to send messages on LinkedIn to other companies to build the arrive canap this prime minister is simply not worth the cost bureaucrats refuse to say who signed the paper to hire GC strategies for $1 million so I'm going to ask this this liberal uh caucus which liberal Minister paid $1 million for GC strategies one of my members all questions do go through the chair The Honorable minister Mr Speaker just because our colleague repeats the same silly premise to the question doesn't make it accurate she knows very well that the authorities in these Contracting matters are in the hands of public servants and we've said very clearly Mr Speaker that the committee can investigate and should investigate these matters uh the Canadian Border Services Agency uncovered the Contracting challenge uh Mr Speaker in an internal audit and did what is appropriate referred it to the appropriate authorities and those who did didn't follow the rules will be held accountable under law The Honorable member from South Shore St Margaret's the NDP liberal government is subsidizing $15 billion to the Giant auto company stellantis for the Windsor plant to employ 16 up to, 1600 foreign workers every M minimum wage every couple struggling with their monthly mortgage payment every Union assembly line worker across this country will pay pay $1,000 to employ these foreign workers after 8 years this prime minister is not worth the cost will the Prime Minister reverse his decision and commit that all jobs at the stellantis plant will go to Canadian paychecks and not foreign [Applause] workers The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker as a windsorite I am proud that it was this liberal government that delivered the battery plant for Windsor including 25 100 jobs Mr Speaker we will continue to work with unions we'll continue to work with stantis to make sure that local Canadian workers are prioritized it's 2500 good jobs will be created at this plant those are the facts Mr Speaker we believe in Canadian workers we believe in electric vehicles we believe in climate change why is the conservative leader so against the battery plant so against Canadian workers and is completely empty on climate change job The Honorable member from Von Woodbridge Mr Speaker in Canada we take pride in our tourism industry showing our country's Beauty tourism is essential to Canada's economy being one of the country's top sectors and supporting more than 2 million jobs no other sector has an economic impact that reaches from coast to coast to coast this was highlighted in the federal tourism growth strategy this summer and it's why we will continue to support our tourism straty can the minister responsible for the federal Economic Development Agency for southern Ontario tell us how our government is supporting local tourism The Honorable Minister thank you Mr Speaker I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk about the great announcement made by my colleague today the minister of Tourism that will grow the tourism sector the newly launched tourism growth program will support expanding and developing local tourism businesses from coast to coast to coast our government knows that local tourism grows our economy creates good Canadian jobs and will continue to position Canada as a destination choice for domestic and international Travelers thank you to all those who work in the tourism sector please take a look at the tourism growth program and apply today The Honorable member from Windsor West Mr Speaker it was revealed that 1500 temporary for workers could be coming to Windsor to work on the building of the new stantis LG battery plant that is receiving $15 billion in taxpayer money from the federal and provincial governments now both the federal liberal and Ford's conservatives committed to jobs and training guarantees for local workers and they had 18 months to get this right communities in Windsor and Ontario expect what was promised will the Liberals guarantee that these jobs are unionized and go to the people in Windsor dumy Essex County and not a single s Le Cent goes to foreign workers here [Applause] here The Honorable parliamentary secretary Mr Speaker for the record one application for one temporary foreign worker has been approved for this project my colleague knows that the TFW program are allowed only when Canadians or permanent residents are un un aable or unavailable to uh to do a job our government is focused on creating Partnerships and driving Investments to create good sustainable jobs for Canadian thanks to our government's support for this project 25,000 full-time positions will be created at the Windsor battery plant and an additional 2 and a half thousand local trades people will be engaged thank you Mr Speaker The Honorable member forisha Mr Speaker eight years after the roll out of the Phoenix pay system the situation is not improving in fact it's getting worse as of today 242,000 trans transactions are still pending which is twice as many as two years ago now I understand that at the beginning of Phoenix in a partisan squabble the liberal government wanted to try to pin the blame on the former conservative government but they've been in power for eight years now so no excuses are valid anymore for explaining why this Fiasco hasn't been solved is anyone at pspc answering for this Fiasco which is costing taxpayers a fortune and causing major problems for thousands of federal employees The Honorable Minister thank you Mr Speaker and I thank our colleague for this question now we agree that it's totally unacceptable that public services public servants are not being paid on time or being paid the right pay and that's why we are working on this to ensure that pay issues are gradually decreased we are trying to decrease the backlog backlog of accumulated cases and currently we are hiring 600 additional employees to deal with these issues to point of order in just a minute and I will recognize a member from leads Grenville thousand V Lakes I first wish to draw to the attention of members in the presence of the gallery of The Honorable Mitsy Dean minister of Children and Family development for the province of British Columbia it is also my pleasure to draw to the attention of members to the presence in the gallery of the recipients of the 2023 Governor General's history [Applause] Awards

2023-11-27 22:44

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