Most toxic speeches
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
Oh, oh!
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
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Most negative speeches
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
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Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
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Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
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Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
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Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?
Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, on behalf of 86 departments and agencies, the departmental results reports for 2017-18 and, if I may add, what great results they are.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Auditor General for his advice on this important issue. We remain committed to ensuring that the CRA treats all Canadians fairly and consistently and makes sure everyone pays their fair share. The CRA will review its internal procedures, processes and definitions to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes and ensure they face the consequences.
Mr. Speaker, we are very proud of our government's announcement last year in support of the United Nations. We are very proud of the work that our air task force is doing in Mali.Our government's support for the United Nations is far broader than the air task force. It is about a whole-of-government approach. It is about providing and focusing on pledges that the United Nations has asked for.We will be looking at other support as well, in terms of a quick reaction force. It is about increasing the number of women in peace support operations, which we are also supporting. It is also about reducing the number of child soldiers. That will help reduce conflict.
Mr. Speaker, those measures that the member opposite put forward were not available to low-income Canadians. That is the difference between Liberals and Conservatives. The Conservatives keep putting forward non-refundable tax credits. We knew that directly delivering money to families with the tax-free Canada child benefit, unlike the taxable benefits they put forward, was the best way to help Canadians. It was not just the best way to help the middle class. It was actually the best way to grow the economy, because the confidence, the jobs created and the economic growth is thanks to Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, Campus Saint-Jean is very important. I have had a chance to visit it many times, particularly with my former parliamentary secretary, the member for Edmonton Centre. It really is an amazing institution, which is why we decided to provide more funding for minority language groups. We increased budgets for all language communities by 20%, and we will continue to support them. We have invested $2.7 billion in official languages, the largest investment in official languages in Canadian history. Francophones outside Quebec and anglophones in Quebec know they can
Mr. Speaker, I just want to correct the member for Carleton. It is not just the Prime Minister who thanks him, but I think 35 million Canadians thank him.All jokes aside, when we look at the economic record of the Conservative Party in the decades it was in power, we saw the lowest levels of growth in 69 years and the lowest employment and job creation since 1946. Compare and contrast that and we will see that our Liberal record is strong, and we stand by it.
Mr. Speaker, our government will ensure that our women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces have the appropriate equipment they need to do their jobs.We want to thank the Auditor General for his important work and recommendations. I encourage the member to read the entire report on this. The report confirms what we have always known, that the Harper Conservatives mismanaged the fighter jet file and misled Canadians for over a decade.The report confirmed that the capability gap exists, which started under the Conservatives. Unlike the Harper Conservatives, we will not compromise our ability to meet our NATO and NORAD commitments.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member again for his passion in support for the Canadian Armed Forces, but when the Harper Conservatives were in power, the member was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence at the time but did not support the appropriate investments in the Canadian Armed Forces; hence the reason we are in this situation. It is why, back in 2016, we directed the Canadian Armed Forces to start recruiting more pilots. Not only did we know that we needed pilots but also technicians to make sure that we have enough fighters. The new competition that we have already launched will make sure that we have the appropriate
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, we have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax evasion. We have fully adopted the international standard for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD. We have provided resources so that the CRA is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in aggressive tax avoidance schemes. With respect to offshore tax evasion, the CRA has more than doubled the number of completed offshore audits since we have taken office.Unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and abroad is
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for his excellent question.Five days have passed since that dark Thursday when the Conservative Government of Ontario and Conservatives in general decided to attack Franco-Ontarians. Not once in those five days has the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada spoken out against what is going on in Ontario.We hope to work with all parties in the House to put pressure on the Conservative Party to stand up for the rights of linguistic communities and Franco-Ontarians.
Mr. Speaker, consular officials are providing assistance to Canadians, as we know, and consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather information. Of course, we are governed by the Privacy Act and I cannot say anything more at this time.
Mr. Speaker, I see that the minister is getting ready for skating weather, because he is skating around this issue and will not address it.The law says that he must be notified, but the minister says he was not. The minister is either incapable of managing his own department or officials were hiding things from him. We know that Statistics Canada makes over $100 million a year selling data to corporations. Did Statistics Canada choose not to tell the minister its plans because it wants to sell this data to large international businesses?
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice. There were two parties that believed in cuts, while we promoted investments in the middle class and in people working hard to join it. We lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. We delivered a more generous, fair and tax-free Canada child benefit that gives more money to nine out of 10 Canadian families and is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty. We now have some of the lowest unemployment rates in 40 years. While the Conservatives continue to defend their wealthy friends, we will continue to stay focused on the middle class.
Mr. Speaker, that is a creative vision of history. The Conservatives added $150 billion to the debt. The one thing they did with their form of Canada child benefit was tax it and take pictures next to the printing machine with a nice blue Conservative polo shirt. That is what they did. We have taken a different approach with a tax-free child benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty in this country. That has helped grow the economy, and the results speak for themselves.
Mr. Speaker, for those same kids, we were the first party to actually directly fund child care benefits. The difference is we did it with a balanced budget. We introduced child care benefits and we balanced the budget. When we boosted those child care benefits, we also had a balanced budget because we wanted those kids to benefit today and for the rest of their lives instead of having to pay interest to wealthy Liberal bond holders and bankers in the sum of billions of dollars a year.The Prime Minister said the budget would balance itself. When?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question and for putting it in verse. He should probably keep his day job for now, and perhaps find something new in 2019. When we came to power in 2015, Canadians were wondering whether we were in a recession or heading for a recession. Economic growth had stalled after 10 years under the Conservatives, who had no economic vision.We made more investments and gave more back to Canadians. Growth is at its highest since 2017, and we continue to make choices that grow our economy.
Mr. Speaker, if you recognize that it is not government business, we should not be answering the question. I think we all know that we have the utmost respect for the rules here.When it does come to the hon. member's question, he knows very well that the MP has issued a statement. He knows very well that we will always work with the commissioner's office.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister famously promised that the budget would balance itself. He said that would happen just next year. We only have about 40 more sleeps until next year comes, and only one more sleep until the fall economic update, in which we are supposed to find out about the finances of the nation. I have a very simple question. If the budget will balance itself, then when will the budget balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, this is a pilot project with regard to the next steps. The chief statistician has been very clear. He will only proceed if issues around privacy and data are dealt with in a meaningful way. The member opposite knows that no information has been obtained. No information has been shared. With respect to privacy, we have been very clear. No government, no agency, no authority can compel any personal information from Statistics Canada. We have been very clear that we also share the concerns around privacy and data protection. We welcome the work the Privacy Commissioner is doing.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had a choice to make. They had to choose whether to vote for the Conservative Party or the NPD, which were both promising to make cuts to balance the budget at all costs, or whether to vote for the Liberal Party and our plan to invest in our communities and put more money back into Canadians' pockets, because we knew that that was the way to create the economic growth that was so lacking in the Harper years.Under our watch, Canada has the lowest unemployment rate in 40 years, and it had the highest rate of growth in the G7 last year. We also implemented the Canada child benefit, which is lifting hundreds of millions of children out of poverty
Mr. Speaker, the hon. member was not here at the time, but Mr. Harper added $150 billion to Canada's debt. We do not need any lectures from the Conservatives, especially since they were not even able to demonstrate that their investments stimulated growth.We have created economic growth because we trust Canadians and because we invested in community infrastructure and public transit, which is making a difference in Canadians' lives and creating economic growth. We are going to keep doing what Canadians asked us to do in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General clearly pointed out that over the last three years pilots have been leaving in droves because of the minister's mismanagement. This proves that the Prime Minister and the Liberals are playing political games with our air force. He is willing to spend billions trying to upgrade jets that are falling apart instead of investing that money in a new fighter fleet, and the air force cannot even recruit enough pilots, because they do not want to fly these old Australian fighter jets. When will the Prime Minister be honest with Canadians and air force members and cancel this purchase of obsolete Australian jets?
Mr. Speaker, I do not blame her for it, but the member opposite seems to be forgetting the last years of the Harper government, when it nickel-and-dimed its veterans, shut down veterans services offices, and demonstrated tax breaks for the wealthiest and boutique tax cuts while not creating the kind of growth that Canadians needed from their economy. There was a choice in the 2015 election. We committed to putting more money into the pockets of the middle class. We committed to investing in infrastructure in a way that would grow the economy. That is exactly what we delivered: what the Conservatives could not.
Mr. Speaker, the party opposite now seems to want ambition. In their campaign platform, those members promised not to spend any money on anything unless they balanced the budget first. That is not an ambitious program, nor is it ambitious to spend provincial and territorial money and not stand up as a federal government.This government has invested $7.5 billion in child care. We have invested in a national housing strategy. EI reforms have supported families as well. This government is committed to lifting children out of poverty: 300,000 so far, 600,000 Canadians. Our work is not done, and our investments are not finished either.
Mr. Speaker, yes we have to put a price on pollution, but the Liberal plan is not working and everyone knows it.A study has shown that the Liberal government's current policies would cause the global climate to warm by a catastrophic 5°C. We are part of an exclusive group of miscreants along with China, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Everyone but the Prime Minister knows it.In Quebec, 200,000 people have signed A Pact for the Transition, committing to moving from words to action and taking the environment seriously.When will the Prime Minister move from words to action?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his passion in support of the Canadian Armed Forces. However, I want to quote the Auditor General's report, that having a combat-capable fighter force is important to Canadian national security and to National Defences ability to meet Canadas commitments to NORAD and NATO.That is why we have launched a full competition to replace the fighters, and not for the 65 fighter aircraft the previous government asked for but 88, because that is what is required to meet our commitments, and we are making
Mr. Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that the government has invested in child care, some $7.5 billion over the next 10 years of direct investment. We have partnered not only with the provinces and territories, but we also have the first distinction-based indigenous child care policy in the history of the country. We did not stop there though. We also provided the Canada child benefit, which as my colleague has said is now being indexed. In addition to that, there is a $40-billion national housing strategy. We are heavily focused on reducing child poverty, supporting families and making sure we build the most resilient generation of Canadian children in the country's history.
Mr. Speaker, again, the member opposite is making up his own facts. He does not believe in good-quality, reliable data. He does not understand the fact that no personal data is ever shared by Statistics Canada. That is what he is implying when he asks that question. Let us be very clear. This was a pilot project. No information was obtained. Statistics Canada is working with the Privacy Commissioner to deal with issues around privacy and data protection. The fundamental problem here is that the members opposite do not support Statistics Canada. They do not support good-quality, reliable data, and that is the real issue here.
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians had to choose between the Conservative Party's austerity measures and cuts and the Liberal Party's plan to make investments and give more money back to families.Next year, the average family will have $2,000 more in its pocket than it did under the former government, which preferred targeted tax credits that inevitably benefited wealthier Canadians. We took a different approach that focused on more inclusive growth and giving more money back to families, and it is working.The economy is booming. Over the past two years, 500,000 full-time jobs were created. We will continue with our work.
Mr. Speaker, well, there this millionaire trust fund Prime Minister goes again. While he forces taxpayers to fund his nanny services, he had the audacity to attack soccer moms and students as too rich, as justification for taking away the tax credit for kids' sports, arts, textbooks and education. The average middle-class family is paying $800 more in taxes since the Liberal government took office and even with all the extra revenue from those tax hikes, the deficit is almost $20 billion. When will the budget finally balance itself?
Mr. Speaker, the challenges experienced by the energy sector are real, and we are working with the sector, as well as the province of Alberta, to deal with them.Let us look at the facts. What we are seeing today happening in Alberta is the result of a decade of inaction by the previous government to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. Ninety-nine per cent of Alberta's oil is sold to only one single customer, which is the United States. We are focused on reducing that dependence by moving forward on pipelines in the right way.
Mr. Speaker, far too many northern Canadians are energy insecure. Most communities in the Northwest Territories rely on diesel as their primary energy source, and several use diesel as a backup source for other aging energy infrastructure. Energy generation is both a significant source of carbon pollution and very expensive for families and businesses. Can the Minister of Infrastructure tell the House what the government is doing to help northern communities be more green and more sustainable while ensuring that they have a secure source of affordable energy?
Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General said there is no way to figure out where that $500 million went.The problem with the Canada Revenue Agency is that Canadians who are not rich are presumed guilty until they can prove they are innocent, but wealthy Canadians or those who are part of corporate Canada are innocent until the CRA can prove their guilt. Because that is way more difficult to do than to go after people who cannot defend themselves, the wealthy get off scot-free. As a result, in the last five years, Canada has forgone $16 billion in unpaid taxes. I am asking the Prime Minister again, when will the Liberals put an end to this unacceptable double-standard in CRA operations?
Mr. Speaker, the agricultural sector is passionate, dynamic and full of potential, but it still faces some challenges.The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently studying the mental health challenges that Canadian farmers, ranchers and producers face. Our commitment to our agricultural community goes far beyond the best possible economic framework to help them grow their businesses.Can the minister tell us what the government is doing to support the mental health of Canadians working in the agricultural sector?
Mr. Speaker, this week is Gender-based Analysis Plus Awareness Week. This is an opportunity for us as parliamentarians to learn more about GBA+ and its contribution to gender equality.Recognizing and addressing the different ways government decision-making affects various groups of people is key to achieving gender equality. Can the Minister of Status of Women tell this House what the government is doing to enhance the implementation of GBA+ across federal departments?
Mr. Speaker, what happens when the union that represents 13,000 media workers announces that it is going to campaign against the Conservatives and support the Liberals? The government and the Liberals announce thousands of dollars for the media a week later. Many respected journalists have expressed their uneasiness with this incestuous patronage.The question is simple. Rather than actually addressing the existing structural problems, is the government trying to buy the media going into an election year?
Mr. Speaker, government bailout investment has no place in an independent Canadian news industry. How independent can thousands of journalists at struggling news organizations across the country be if their employers' survival is dependent on government subsidies, slush-fund tax relief or direct cash bailouts? Again, and I do not want to hear about millions more for the CBC, why can the Liberals not understand that a media bailout in an election year is simply unacceptable?
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his hard work on Canada's north. I was pleased to join him in the Northwest Territories last week to announce investments of over $14 million to upgrade the Snare Forks hydro plant, as well as $30 million to help build four wind turbines in Inuvik, the first project under the Arctic energy fund. These projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the lives of residents in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to work with northern Canadians to ensure they have access to reliable and sustainable energy sources now and for the years to come.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we recognize how vital our journalists are. Canada is lucky to have professional journalists who work with facts. Professional journalism plays a key role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy.We are in talks with media representatives and journalism associations to figure out how we can work together while protecting the fundamental principle of journalistic independence. It is central to everything we do, and that will never change.
Mr. Speaker, here is a story. Imagine if we hired somebody, then after a while they said they were quitting, but then eight months later find out they are still taking a salary without having done a day's worth of work. Well, that is exactly what the MP for Saint-LéonardSaint-Michel has done. What kind of prime minister would condone this kind of behaviour? Can the Liberals not understand that it is exactly this sense of entitlement that drives Canadians crazy? Will the Liberals join us in calling for an investigation by the Ethics Commissioner into this deplorable action, yes or not?
Mr. Speaker, we believe that the only card we need to receive health care is a health card, not a credit card.Our health care system is a source of pride across the country because it allows everyone to receive treatment, regardless of how much money they have in their bank account.We will continue to work with Quebec and all the provinces to ensure that all Canadians are well served by our health care system.
Mr. Speaker, today, over a hundred advocates are here calling for universal affordable child care. Costs here are among the highest in the world. Some families pay more for child care than they do for rent, and our system barely serves one in four kids. Canada is investing a fraction of what is needed to solve the child care crisis. After voting down every progressive fix to pay equity in committee this morning, when will the government take some real action on gender equality and invest in affordable universal child care?
Mr. Speaker, Canada's oil is being liquidated at $17 a barrel while our international competitors are getting $54. This discount is costing the Canadian economy $80 million each and every day and is a direct result of the Liberals' cancellation of the northern gateway, the Trans Mountain and the west-to-east pipeline projects. Now the Liberals have proposed something new. It is called a no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69. This is going to make this discount permanent.Will the government kill Bill C-69 and allow pipelines to be built, or is it prepared to allow this discount to continue?
Mr. Speaker, clearly the Liberals want EI cheques, but Conservatives want paycheques for Canadians.Last year, the Prime Minister said he wanted to phase out the oil sands, and last spring, he said he regrets that Canada cannot get off oil tomorrow. The Prime Minister killed the only two pipelines meant for export to new markets. It is a travesty. Canada is the most responsible oil producer, with the third-largest reserves and the fourth-largest exports. The Liberals' sabotage of Canadian energy caused this crisis and now even calls for decreased production. Can the Liberals be honest for once. Is this not actually exactly what the Prime Minister wants?
Wow, Mr. Speaker. That is quite the conspiracy theory.We, on this side of the House, recognize the importance of professional journalism, which plays an important role in our society and is a cornerstone of our democracy. That is why we allocated $50 million for journalism in the last budget, including $14 million for community media. We are also providing support for CBC/Radio-Canada.We will continue to work with the various stakeholders, whether it be the media, unions or journalists, to figure out how we can work together to protect journalistic independence. We, on this side of the House, understand this very simple principle, but I wonder if the same can be said of the members opposite.
Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are focused on building the pipeline capacity because we understand that reducing dependence on our single customer, the U.S., should be our focus in order to support our energy sector the right way.
Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for Statistics Canada admitted yesterday that he found out about the project to collect personal financial data from the media. However, the law states that the minister must be notified before the chief statistician begins any new projects.What is the minister doing to protect Canadians' privacy? Will the chief statistician face any sanctions for breaking the law? When will the minister finally put an end to this project?
Mr. Speaker, for months, we have been talking about how the Canada Revenue Agency persecutes ordinary Canadians and gives the ultra-rich and corporations the kid glove treatment at tax time. Who else agrees with us? The Auditor General. The Canada Revenue Agency has no compunction about persecuting single moms in Saskatchewan, and the Auditor General's report confirms that the agency gives corporations and the wealthy a lot more time and preferential treatment than ordinary individuals.Here, again, is my question for the Prime Minister: When will Canada drop this double standard?
Mr. Speaker, maybe some of his friends from Cape Breton are rich, but I can tell you not a lot of mine are. I will continue to talk to the people in Milton, who certainly do not share the same set of friends that the Prime Minister does.The Prime Minister indicated that Canadians made a choice. Do members know what that choice was? It was to keep deficits to $10 billion a year. That choice was to return to a balanced budget by the time we got to the next election. That was the fundamental promise the current government broke. He can fix it by telling us when the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, unlike the NDP, we have moved from words to action. We put a price on pollution for the entire Canadian economy and we will help Canadian families through this transition.We have invested in renewable and green energies. We have invested in new technologies. We are in the process of implementing an ambitious plan to combat climate change today and for future generations.
Mr. Speaker, the Australian F-18s will be a burden on the Royal Canadian Air Force and taxpayers.The capability gap is nothing more than a political invention to distract Canadians from more pressing issues. The Canadian Armed Forces does not have enough pilots or technicians. It is impossible for our current fleet to be fully operational. Our pilots cannot get the flying hours they need. Our fighter jet fleet needs to be renewed.When will the government cancel the purchase of the Australian F-18s?
Mr. Speaker, Canadians certainly understand that the current Prime Minister knows how to spend, but the question is whether or not he knows how to balance the budget. We still do not have a date. If he wants to compare records in terms of what the previous Conservative government did in order to ensure that middle class and struggling Canadians did well, I might invite him to take a look at the education tax credit, the tuition tax credit, the children's fitness tax credit and the children's arts tax credit. All those things mattered immensely to my riding constituents in Milton, Ontario. He took that away, and he is going to pay for it.
Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister gives us the same old story day after day, yet the deficit is over $80 billion and there is still one year to go. For those watching at home, $80 billion would buy 470 arenas like the Canadian Tire Centre, the home of the Ottawa Senators. If we continue at this rate, every municipality across Canada will have an arena like the one the Sens play in. Enough is enough.When will the government balance the budget?
Mr. Speaker, our government takes Canadians' privacy very seriously and understands the concerns that have been raised. The head of Statistics Canada has made it very clear that this project will not go ahead until the privacy concerns have been addressed.It is also important to understand that no information has been shared or collected by Statistics Canada as part of this project and that we will always protect Canadians' privacy.
Mr. Speaker, people want to know that the minister cares about privacy. Yesterday we learned that he learned about this plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians only after it was reported in the media. The law clearly says that the minister must be informed before the chief statistician can move forward with any mandatory data collection. Can the minister clearly state to the House if he or his office was informed about this project to harvest the personal and financial information of millions of Canadians after it was reported, yes or no?
Mr. Speaker, today is Universal Children's Day, but it is impossible to celebrate when 1.4 million of our children, 200,000 more than before, are living in poverty in Canada. It is not enough to write a cheque and claim that the problem has been fixed. We need affordable day care across the country, a universal pharmacare program that includes dental benefits, and programs to help the 38% of indigenous children living in poverty.My question for the government is this: when will it implement ambitious measures that will truly lift all children out of poverty?
Mr. Speaker, unlike my colleague, we love culture.The Prime Minister said that the budget will balance itself. He is setting a bad example for those Canadians who are collecting credit cards and racking up debt. Their Prime Minister is telling them that they can continue to spend money and that everything will magically work itself out. That is the thinking of someone who has never had any trouble making ends meet. Canadians cannot tell their bankers that they do not know when they will pay them back.Will the Prime Minister commit to telling us, no later than tomorrow, when the budget will be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Shefford and all of the members of the agriculture committee for their hard work on this very important issue. Together with my parliamentary secretary, we are working with Farm Credit Canada to reduce the stigma around mental health, with a publication delivered this week to all Canadian farms. We also announced a new partnership with 4-H Canada to support mental and physical health. We are working with Farm Management Canada to support the Canadian farmer. We will continue to work together to promote mental health in the agricultural sector.
Mr. Speaker, the member for Carleton keeps on quoting a study by the Fraser Institute that fails to take into account the Canada child benefit. In fact, the authors of that study say that the Canada child benefit is a disincentive to hard work and independence because it fosters dependence on government. I would argue that the 18,000 children whose families receive more because of the Canada child benefit are hard-working Canadians, that the Canada child benefit is helping them to make ends meet and we stand by that policy that has taken 300,000 kids out of poverty. By next year, Canadian families will have $2,000 more in their pockets than they had under the previous government.
Mr. Speaker, there is a club of climate bad guys: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and guess who: Canada.A study confirms that the Liberal policies will drive the world above a catastrophic 5° warming. The Liberals are not doing enough, and everybody knows it.In Quebec, more than 200,000 people have signed the pact and pledged to reduce their pollution. Nobody is buying the Liberal delusion that everything is fine.Does the Prime Minister really believe that he can fool all the people all the time?
I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that is what helps me with my re-election chances. The Prime Minister promised that the budget would balance itself. Will he stand now, keep his shirt on and tell us when that will finally happen?
Mr. Speaker, one of the key issues members opposite have raised is the issue around privacy and data protection. We understand those concerns. The chief statistician, in committee, both in the House of Commons and the Senate, said he will only proceed when those issues around privacy and data protection are dealt with.With regard to personal information, no personal information will be shared with any private entity. No government agency, the CRA, the RCMP, or even the Prime Minister can compel Statistics Canada for this information. Privacy and data protection are absolutely essential, and our government supports that position.
Mr. Speaker, notice that he did not answer the question.The minister stated yesterday at committee that he learned about the plan to collect personal financial data from over one million Canadians when it was reported in the media. The law says that he must be told before any request can be made. The government has already told the banks that they must provide this information.Is the minister suggesting that Statistics Canada violated the law by not notifying him?
Mr. Speaker, when energy workers needed help, we stood with them. We were the government that extended EI benefits for struggling energy sector workers, which the Conservative government voted against. This
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Mr. Speaker, we believe that it is unacceptable for some people to get treatment faster just because they have money. A two-tier system does not work.I have been working with my colleagues in all provinces and territories for some time so that we can resolve this unfair situation together. We will continue to work together to protect our health care system and better serve all Canadians.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister of La Francophonie to apologize and to say that this side of the House is not attacking francophones. I have been on the Standing Committee on Official Languages for years, and I stand up for
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent for the following: That the government provide the date upon which the budget will balance itself and that it provide this date tomorrow.
Mr. Speaker, I would just remind the member for Carleton that in the 2015 election, Canadians were debating whether Canada was in a recession or heading into a recession. We had slow growth and slow job creation. Canadians decided to take the approach of investing in infrastructure, giving more money to the middle class to help grow the economy. We had the fastest growth in the G7 in 2017. We have seen over half a million full-time jobs created in the last three years. We see, at the same time, our debt-to-GDP ratio steadily going down. This is fiscally responsible, and this is growing our economy.
Mr. Speaker, in reality, the Liberals killed the only new options for exports to the Asia-Pacific and to Europe. They drove away more than $100 billion in energy projects, the worst loss in more than seven decades. Over 100,000 Canadians lost their jobs. The pipelines and discount prices harm other sectors in all provinces. ATB's chief economist says, This is a national problem, and, We could well see layoffs in early 2019 and it could spawn yet anotherif not a recessionat least another slowdown for the Canadian economy. Other than more empty words, what will the minister actually do to fix the crisis the Liberals caused?
Mr. Speaker, tomorrow the Minister of Finance will present to the House his fall economic update. However, let us recap a couple of things we already know.We already know that in the election campaign of 2015 the current government promised no more than a $10-billion deficit per year, which would be balanced by the time we reached the next election in 2019. We know that both of those are untrue. Perhaps the Prime Minister can tell us today if he has set a date on which the budget will be balanced.
Mr. Speaker, if there had been a capability gap under us, it would have been found in the ATIP, the access to information, request that came forward. In fact, there were zero documents about a capability gap.We know that the Liberals invented this capability gap to give cover for the Prime Minister's naive election promise. They used this fabricated gap to justify the purchase of rusted out Australian jets. Now, the Auditor General's report was perfectly clear that these used jets will not meet Canada's international military commitments.Will the Prime Minister follow the Auditor General's advice and cancel the purchase of these old, used Australian fighter jets?
Mr. Speaker, I think they cannot accept the reality that they failed the energy sector, and that is why they make so much noise.We were there to stand with them when the energy workers needed our support, and we will continue to support them by building pipeline capacity and supporting them in their time of need.
Mr. Speaker, it is the same old broken record.Ottawa is not honouring its commitments on health transfers. It is not complicated. Year after year, Ottawa does less and less. Now, the Minister of Health is threatening to further undermine Quebec's health network at the expense of Quebeckers.The Minister of Finance can take immediate action.Will he commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator in tomorrow's economic statement?
Mr. Speaker, let us try something different. The PM, having spent without relent, Was caught by surprise when the crisis did arise. No new money in the vaults, just a budget full of faults. And Canadians, their taxes unending, Asked the PM to stop with his spending. What were you doing when the economy was ascending? Like it or not, I was spend, spend, spending. What a bad habit it is for you to spend, It's our kids who will pay, to your rich banker friends. When will the Prime Minister realize that we are not living in a fantasy and tell us when a balanced budget there will be?
Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague knows, as we all do, that the impact of government decisions is felt differently by Canadians, depending on a variety of factors, including where they live, how they identify and/or their official language of choice. Our government relies on GBA+ to assess and mitigate for any differential impact, and our approach is working. The economy is growing, and we are advancing equality. This week, at the GBA+ Forum, our government will be sharing our successes and looking for ways to further collaborate with leaders from across sectors so that together we can grow the middle class and support those working hard to join it.
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, in Vancouver, the defence minister made modest promises to recommit Canada to UN peacekeeping. However, last weekend the minister announced that the only concrete part of that promise that he actually kept, providing Canadian medevac support for the UN mission in Mali, will come to an abrupt end in July. That is after just one year, and with no other nation lined up to fill that gap.Will the minister demonstrate Canada's firm support for UN peacekeeping by extending our Mali mission by at least six months, or until a replacement can be found?
Toufik Benhamiche is desperate. He has been held in Cuba against his will and kept from his family since July 7, 2017, and he could be thrown in prison any day, even though the Cuban supreme court overturned his conviction because of a procedural error.He is facing a new trial with the same judge, the same prosecutor and the same procedure, and he could end up unjustly convicted once again.Will the minister responsible for global affairs act immediately to protect a citizen who is the victim of an abuse of power?
Mr. Speaker, as far as Saudi Arabia and the war in Yemen is concerned, I want to make something clear.We condemn the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and we have called for a ceasefire in Yemen. We are actively looking at other measures, including how we might use the Magnitsky act. Obviously, while we review the situation, no new export permits will be granted.
Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, everything is not fine, and that is why we are moving forward with a historic plan to fight climate change in this country. We are working to reduce emissions across the Canadian economy, to create jobs and meet international commitments.Our actions include pricing pollution across Canada, accelerating the phase-out of traditional coal power, making historic investments in cleaner infrastructure like public transit and charging stations for electric vehicles, adopting regulations to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 40% to 45% by 2025, and more.Canadians know this government is serious about
Mr. Speaker, Doug Ford is not the only one abandoning French-language universities. This government has turned its back on Campus Saint-Jean, the French-language university in Edmonton, even though Alberta's francophone population is on the rise and the number of students there has doubled. Funding needs are not being met, and the Liberals refuse to provide funding. At least the Alberta NDP has stepped up.Why do the Liberals not support Campus Saint-Jean?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper's government failed to build a single pipeline to take our resources to non-U.S. markets. That is the result we are seeing today. We are also seeing increased investment in the energy sector. Despite the opposition beating down on the energy sector, close to half a trillion dollars of new investment is being planned for Alberta's energy sector, including the $40-billion LNG project investment, the single largest private sector investment in Canada's history.
Mr. Speaker, the plan to build a French-language university in Canada's largest city is a symbol of pride for Ontario and francophone communities across Canada. Mr. Ford's decision to attack Franco-Ontarian communities to please his Conservative base has all kinds of implications for the whole country.Is the Prime Minister ready to work with Franco-Ontarian communities to make this institution a reality?
Mr. Speaker, during the 2015 election campaign, the Prime Minister promised to run modest deficits. Today, he is running deficits of over $20 billion a year. It seems the Prime Minister thinks that the country can be run with Monopoly money. That is completely false. Canadians worked hard to earn that money. They work hard every day to survive in our society.For the fourth time in two days, when will the budget be balanced?
Mr. Speaker, today we learned that despite the fragile ceasefire in Yemen, Saudi-led forces resumed air strikes on the port city of Hodeidah, through which 80% of Yemen's humanitarian aid arrives, presumably including Canadian aid. We provide humanitarian aid to Yemen, but then we sell arms to the country that is preventing the humanitarian aid from arriving.Can someone please explain the logic behind that?
Mr. Speaker, Stephen Harper never cancelled one pipeline. The minister has cancelled three.Today Canada Action has initiated a campaign to inform Canadians of what the Liberals' failures are costing the Canadian economy. Tens of billions of dollars are lost as discounted Canadian oil flows to the United States, and the Prime Minister is making it worse with Bill C-69.The question is simple. Will he kill his no-new-pipelines bill, Bill C-69, or is he going to continue to allow the energy sector to fail and everyone who works in it to fail as well?
Mr. Speaker, it is really disappointing to hear from the member from Alberta that when workers needed the EI extensions and benefits they deserved, they did not deserve those benefits. It is very disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
Mr. Speaker, well, he got me there. I did wear a Conservative T-shirt, but the Prime Minister can appreciate that at least I kept my shirt on.
Mr. Speaker, health care costs are rising year after year in Quebec. What does Ottawa do? It threatens to cut transfer payments if Quebec does not give in to Ottawa's demands, as though sick people in Quebec needed that, as though patients in our hospitals wanted to get into a tug-of-war with the Prime Minister. Instead of threatening to undermine our health care system, will the Minister of Finance commit to restoring the 6% health transfer escalator tomorrow?