Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, yes, the situation is serious. Our neighbours continue to change the rules of the game arbitrarily. Although they are still our neighbours, they are completely unreliable. First, it is important to identify the source of the problem. It stems from our neighbours' completely senseless actions. We are putting the necessary programs in place to help our businesses get through this very…
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Madam Speaker, I just have one short question. How does the hon. member explain the fact that, despite all of the doom and gloom, that Canada is broken, we still have a AAA credit rating?
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Mr. Speaker, what I meant to say, and what I did say, is that this formula, which determines the Canada health transfer escalator, is not permanent. It is a formula that is adjusted over time. I was present for the negotiations that led to the establishment of the formula at the time. This formula can always be adjusted; it can always be updated. If that is the intention of the federal and provinc…
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No? Okay, democracy in action, I see. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to take part in today's debate. In budget 2025, we outlined our plan to build Canada strong. Since then, we have moved fast to build major infrastructure, homes and industries that grow the Canadian economy and create lasting prosperity; empower Canadians with better careers and a more affordable life; and protect our …
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Mr. Speaker, concerning the Canada health transfer, a formula has been negotiated by the federal and provincial governments, and the amounts are indexed. What I can say is that negotiations and discussions will take place during upcoming federal-provincial meetings, and I am sure that this transfer formula will be updated during negotiations held in the years to come. The formula is not set in sto…
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Mr. Speaker, it is my turn to, if I may—
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Mr. Speaker, yes, the Canadian economy is very resilient. Despite all the shocks that I mentioned, 2025 was actually a year of significant economic growth. We have been able so far to resist that fog of uncertainty. Going back to the sovereign wealth fund, the purpose of the sovereign wealth fund, as we define it here and as has been done in the case of Quebec, is to allow the state, the governmen…
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Mr. Speaker, I did point out that was on net federal debt. I was not talking about the total debt, but if we want to include total debt, including the provinces, then we also have to look at the assets. There are many financial assets that the provinces also own, but if we want to look at debt, excluding the CPP, then the total Canadian federal debt is still around 40% of GDP, which is still one o…
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Mr. Speaker, I can only speak for the finance committee, as I am a member. So far, we have been able to talk, we have been able to discuss and we have been able to reach consensus in that committee. If we can be an example to the other committees, so much the better, but things function and can function.
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Mr. Speaker, we have moved along several parallel tracks. We are trying to speed up major projects; this is very important. We have also put in place different programs to support Canadian businesses and companies affected directly by tariffs in the steel, aluminum, auto and copper industries, with direct assistance to those companies. We are also working, keeping in mind that Canadian families ne…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question. Yes, there would be many industrial benefits from this industry, and with the legislation I think we would contribute to accelerating those industrial benefits. More than that, it is also a question of sovereignty and a question of national security, to have the ability in Canada to do this from Canada. It is hugely important from a point of view of …
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Mr. Speaker, no, it is not that at all. What we are hoping to achieve with the legislation is to be practical, to be pragmatic and to be able to move quickly. There are sufficient Canadian companies interested in and capable of doing this. It is very important that we do this with Canadian companies and for Canadian companies.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin not with statistics, but with a few quiet moments from everyday life in Canada. A parent in Laval checks the weather on their phone before dropping their child off at school. A paramedic in Thunder Bay is guided to a highway accident using GPS. A farmer near Lethbridge, Alberta, checks satellite data on soil moisture to decide where to irrigate. A grandmother in …
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Mr. Speaker, I thank our esteemed colleague for mentioning Marc Garneau, who was indeed an exceptional Quebecker and an exceptional Canadian. Duty was very important to Mr. Garneau. I thank my colleague for pointing that out.
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Mr. Speaker, I think those kinds of issues would be well discussed in the parliamentary committee.
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Mr. Speaker, in a few days, on April 25, Portuguese communities in Canada and around the world will celebrate Freedom Day, which commemorates the Carnation Revolution of 1974. On that historic day, the people of Portugal peacefully ended decades of dictatorship and restored democracy, fundamental rights and freedom of expression. Canada is home to a vibrant and proud Portuguese-Canadian community,…
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Mr. Speaker, the remarks made by my colleague, whom I hold in high regard, come as no surprise to me. We are back to the issue of federal transfers to the provinces. Apparently, all of this was some sort of plot to weaken Quebec. Of course, we do not agree with that perspective, but we will discuss that another time. If that were the case, how is it that, as my colleague mentioned at the end of hi…
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Mr. Speaker, again I disagree with most of what the colleague has mentioned about the labour market. We could talk about that another time. I am surprised, or perhaps intrigued is a better word, by his insistence on Chinese acupuncture and traditional medicine. Has the member checked with or talked to the provincial governments? This is under their jurisdiction. It is not a federal jurisdiction.
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Mr. Speaker, I enjoyed our colleague's speech a lot. What I am hearing from people in the field, especially during our discussions with Quebec universities, is that they are relatively satisfied with the programs that the federal government is currently putting in place to fund research and innovation precisely to keep our young talent at home. We have a lot of support from the universities. I hav…
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Mr. Speaker, let us put that to the smell test. Does anyone know what a smell test is? I will give some examples. There is a war going on right now. The price of crude oil has gone from $60 a barrel to almost $100 a barrel, leading to a sharp increase in the price of fuel. Those are not Liberal taxes. Come on. It has to do with the international context. In the meantime, we are doing what we can, …
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Mr. Speaker, for nearly a year now we have been renegotiating our relationship with the Americans. We are not going to sign just any agreement. This agreement will need to benefit us, too. In the meantime, we are supporting our businesses, as we did with Paccar. Paccar was affected by the tariffs and our government negotiated a host of measures to help it through these difficult times. We will do …
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians know that competition drives the economy, and they expect companies to be fair and transparent to consumers. As the Competition Bureau reported earlier this year, algorithmic pricing can lead to fewer choices and higher costs for Canadians. Our position is clear: We want more choice, more competition and better prices for Canadians. That is why we are actively reviewing algo…
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Mr. Speaker, let us come back to the Conservative Party motion because that is what we are here to debate. As usual, the motion contains several points. In fact, we agree with some of them, as our Prime Minister has said. No matter what the issue is, Conservatives always bring up the industrial carbon tax, as if getting rid of it were some kind of magic cure. If we get rid of it, everything will b…
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Mr. Speaker, we are on a roll. We have had two or three economists speak in a row. We are going to end up taking over the House of Commons. My question for my esteemed colleague and fellow committee member concerns the need for government support to be well targeted. Does he believe that the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which builds on the GST tax credit, provides targeted assistance t…
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Mr. Speaker, it is so interesting that my esteemed colleague quoted Paul Krugman. I am a big fan of his, too. My colleague and I have a number of things in common, and that is just one of them. I would like my colleague to tell us more about how the Conservatives seem fixated on clean fuel regulations. Specifically, they want to get rid of those regulations. Does my colleague understand why that i…
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Mr. Speaker, fuel prices are, indeed, very high. Crude oil prices went from about $60 a barrel at the end of February to about $100 a barrel at the moment, and they might even go much higher. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed. I do not think that has anything to do with Liberal policy. In the motion of our colleagues, they point to the permanent elimination of the fuel standards regulations. Rea…
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Mr. Speaker, we have just had a very clear exposé of why we cannot be in favour of the Conservative motion. First of all, the recent increase in gasoline prices comes as a result of the war in the Middle East. Most importantly, as my hon. colleague mentioned very clearly, the heart of the issue is the fact that she said, “affordability does not come from handouts.” We believe that direct governmen…
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Mr. Speaker, like everybody in this room, we can read the newspapers. We can see what is going on at the gas pumps and the impact of higher global oil prices, so we have to do something. The fastest way to assist consumers is by suspending the excise tax. If other measures need to be taken later on, we will consider them as well.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very familiar with Luc Godbout, who my colleague quoted. I am very familiar with his comments and I think that, generally speaking, he is right. However, we are currently experiencing such a major shock that we had to do something quickly. The quickest measure to put in place was to suspend the fuel excise tax.
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Mr. Speaker, before I begin my speech, I must inform you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Mont-Saint-Bruno—L'Acadie. It is my turn to speak to the motion moved by our Conservative colleagues. I will try to cover five themes if I can stay on track and maintain my focus. First of all, I would like to remind all of my colleagues that the Conservative Party's motion contains four par…
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Mr. Speaker, it is very difficult at this point. We cannot make the assumption that the government would get $16 billion. We do not know if the oil shock will lead us into a recession and if government revenues would actually go down. It is very audacious on the Conservatives' part to say so clearly that there would be a $16-billion windfall in revenue. We just do not know that at this point.
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague is right. Since February 28, the price of gas—at least in my neck of the woods—has climbed from $1.45 a litre to about $2 a litre. This is because the price of oil has increased from $60 a barrel to almost $120 a barrel. The problem is the war in the Middle East. In the meantime, we have rolled out a suite of measures to help Canadians, including the Canada child benefit…
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Mr. Speaker, there is a saying about being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. That is what we are doing. Right now, with the war in the Middle East causing fuel shortages, it is increasingly important for Canada to produce oil. We do produce oil, but we can also transition to EV-related technologies at the same time. We are doing both at the same time.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his kind words. To come back to the deficit, when a country is going through a period of turmoil and economic crisis triggered by a neighbouring partner that is no longer reliable, the government has to step in on a massive scale. That is what the government has done. That is what must be done. We are proud of that.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Kingston and the Islands. I am pleased to rise in the House of Commons today to speak to the future of the Canadian auto industry and the measures our government is taking to ensure its long-term success. The Government of Canada fully understands and recognizes the importance of our auto industry, a key driver of our economy that relies o…
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Mr. Speaker, I do not think I will have enough time to answer all of these very important questions. I will answer the question about the GST. That makes no sense, and everyone is well aware of that. The GST cannot be applied selectively. Certain products cannot be subject to the GST while others are not. It does not work like that. A value-added tax like the GST cannot be applied in that way. Com…
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Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to recognize the outstanding work of Autisme Laval as part of Autism Awareness Month. For over 40 years, April has been an important opportunity to raise public awareness, break the stigma and promote a more inclusive society. Every person with an autism spectrum disorder has a unique path and talents that should be recognized and supported. Autisme Laval plays a k…
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Mr. Speaker, we are taking effective action. We are in a situation that was created by U.S. trade policy. American tariffs put us in this situation. Canadian businesses are finding it very difficult to invest because they cannot predict what the operating environment will be like, given the uncertainty created by the United States. What we can do and what we are doing is investing heavily in infra…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague talked about putting the Conservative plan into action, but what plan? There is no plan. There is no plan because, in the minds of the Conservatives, everything comes down to the industrial carbon tax. It is to blame for everything. Come on. We announced a defence industrial policy that is generating a lot of interest from SMEs in Quebec and Canada. We have made massive i…
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Mr. Speaker, of course, the employment figures for the last two months have been very negative. We are well aware of that. Why is this happening? Why are we here? It is because we are in a trade war with our American neighbours. Our Conservative friends have a hard time understanding that. Given how hard it is to export to the United States, businesses are not investing. That is the crux of the pr…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague was talking about beef production in Alberta. He has also spoken often here in the House about food affordability. Meat prices are very high in Canada, indeed, because there is a shortage of beef coming from Alberta, in particular. Is the member opposite against increased British exports to Canada at this time?
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Mr. Speaker, as my colleague mentioned, when one is reading a report, it would be a good idea to read it in its entirety. In this case, the report shows that, in the fourth quarter of this year, domestic demand was very strong and private investment has picked back up. The bottom line is, the only negative aspect of the fourth-quarter GDP report was a sharp drop in inventory. Generally, when inven…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, as I said earlier and as my colleague also said earlier, when one reads a report from Statistics Canada, one should read the whole report. What we find out in today's report is that for the year 2025, the whole year, economic growth in Canada was plus 1.7%. That makes it the second fastest in the OECD area. On top of that, we created, in absolute terms, more jobs here than…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned ideology, and that is exactly what this is about. On this side of the House, we firmly believe that the government has a role to play in reducing poverty through social programs. We firmly believe that social programs are important and help improve the lives of families. The Conservatives want to eliminate them. That would make things much more difficult.
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Mr. Speaker, poverty in general is a problem, of course, and especially poverty that affects children. Food insecurity is extremely important and extremely concerning. That is why we invite all our colleagues to work together to reduce it. The way to do that is by increasing economic growth to create good jobs that can provide good family incomes. However, if we cut social programs, we would be sh…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that very good question. The reality is that petty slogans are not a plan. On our side of the House, we have a real plan to build a strong and resilient economy. Our plan is yielding results. Private investment already rebounded spectacularly in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, Statistics Canada announced that foreign direct investment has now reached its highes…
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Mr. Speaker, it is my turn to speak to Bill C‑15, and therefore to the budget. I am sure that many of my colleagues reread it every night. Before beginning, I would like to sincerely thank all the members of the Standing Committee on Finance. After some challenging discussions and debates, we managed to finish our work earlier this week and send the bill back to the House. I really want to thank o…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to respond to comments made by the hon. member for Calgary Centre regarding contributions to Lion Electric and, more specifically, how much these contributions have cost taxpayers. In March 2021, the Government of Canada announced supports to Lion Electric, which included a $49.95-million contribution through the strategic innovation fund for Lion's automated battery-pack a…
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Mr. Speaker, the project is currently being managed by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, ISED, and its grants and contributions centre of expertise, the team responsible for managing all contribution agreements that are in breach or in default. The department has worked closely with a court-appointed trustee to validate the outstanding debt and to ensure continuous oversight of …
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Mr. Speaker, affordability pressures are indeed very real, and the Government of Canada takes concerns about food prices in particular very seriously. It is a real issue for women and for all Canadians. Families, farmers and businesses are facing global challenges, from supply chain disruptions to geopolitical instability and climate impacts, that are affecting prices here at home and around the w…
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