Parliamentary Speeches
1,397 speeches by François-Philippe Champagne — Page 5 of 28
Government Orders
Mr. Chair, my colleague will remember that when we did the comprehensive expenditure review, we identified $60 billion in savings. We were very careful in doing that to protect a number of departments, including those that relate to indigenous services.
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Mr. Chair, the member will remember that when I was the industry minister we made historic investments to increase the resources and the enforcement capabilities of the Competition Bureau of Canada. I know that it will do its work to protect—
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Mr. Chair, we are always making sure that every decision we make will be in the best interest of Canadians. We want to improve services to make sure that we, as a government and as Canadians, can invest in more infrastructure in this country. That is why we have made general—
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Mr. Chair, as I said to my hon. colleague, for whom I have enormous respect, I work with him very well. By the way, I want to thank him for his contribution over the years. We have done many things together. What he is going to find in this spring economic update is in fact that we are—
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Mr. Chair, I think the question was around the auto strategy. Since I was the industry minister at the time, yes, I think the investments we have made and the attraction of investment was the right thing. I believe that electrification is our north star. I am mindful that there have been delays in some plants and some adoption. This is not unique to Canada. We have seen that in a number of G7 coun…
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Mr. Chair, he can talk down the industry. I will stand up for astronauts and the industry at every step of the way. If he was talking to our southern neighbour, he would understand that it is important for Canada to be able to launch from a Canadian site in order to get into a certain orbit, and we can do that in Canso, Nova Scotia.
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Mr. Chair, I can hear, from my colleague's question, the depth of analysis that she has made. That is why it is always a pleasure to engage with her in this House. She is right on competition. We know that competition is key to providing more choices and better prices for consumers. That is why, when I was the industry minister, we put more tools in the tool box of the Competition Bureau. She will…
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Mr. Chair, my colleague is a very close colleague in the House, and I am delighted and honoured that she is staying so late to participate in this debate. I did, in fact, meet with Fatih Birol. I had dinner with him when he came here to receive a prize. In fact, what he said to us and also to the G7, and I will give members a preview, is that the world energy infrastructure is being redesigned and…
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Mr. Chair, my colleague is so right. We want to do more transformation, and I think she will be happy with team Canada strong. The fact is that we say we are going to train and help 80,000 to 100,000 young people with their Red Seal and to get into the trades, because if we want to build this country, we need young people. We need young people to get into the trades. This is going to help provide …
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Again, Mr. Chair, in the spirit of collaboration, I am extending an olive branch to my colleague to put him in touch with astronauts so that he can learn how a launch site in Canada would be in the best interest of Canada's national security.
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Mr. Chair, what I am saying is that we need to prepare for the cars of the future. In fact, it is nothing surprising that when the same thing has been done for 100 years and the technology is changed, there is a longer time of adoption. I will just remind my colleague that Tesla took 17 years to be profitable. The Model T of Henry Ford was not an instant success. It is normal that when we do the s…
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Mr. Chair, it is pretty obvious when we say that it is going to come from the consolidated fund of Canada as seed money, but after that, obviously, the fund will have its own investment and will generate revenues that can be reinvested and create wealth for Canadians.
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Mr. Chair, as I have said, what we have been doing in terms of investment, and we can think about the Volkswagen investment, is to prepare the country to make sure that we will have an industry that can support a different kind of technology, whether we are talking about an internal combustion—
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Madam Chair, my colleague will be pleased to know that, when we conducted our exercise to identify $60 billion in savings within the federal government, we took great care to protect investments in research and innovation. My colleague can rest assured that we have protected research and development because we know it is important not only for our communities but also for the future of the country…
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Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here to listen to the remarks of my colleague. If she wants to talk about affordability, I am sure she knows that the three things that concern Canadians are the price of rent, the price of food and the price of gas. I am sure she will go back to her constituents to say that Canada has taken the lead in helping Canadians with more affordable homes. I am sure she is …
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Mr. Chair, the member may not like my answers. I know that the Conservatives are allergic to good news, but I am an experienced member of the House and will continue to answer and to provide the facts to Canadians who are watching at home. What I was saying is that we have made sure that the industry could succeed. Whether we are talking about internal combustion engines or whether we are talking …
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Mr. Chair, as the member will have seen, we have been supporting the industry. We have been making sure that we can attract investments and that we understand the reality of the world today. When it comes to electric vehicles, there have been delays in adoption, and we need to adopt policies that would favour investment in the auto sector to support our workers and the industry. That is what we ar…
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I am bound by the rules of the House, and the Chair is asking me to respond. Mr. Chair, I got maybe the beginning of the question, and I would say that people are seeing the investment fund in Canada as best in class in the world. I would think the Canada Strong fund that—
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Mr. Chair, Canada is one of the very few countries in the G7 that still has a very strong auto sector. That is why my colleague will be happy to see that we have supported workers, we have worked with Unifor and we have worked with unions to make sure that we position the auto industry for success.
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Mr. Chair, I am talking about the facts. I am just trying to help the member understand the nature of the industry in Canada, and I will continue to do so because people at home understand that we have different investments in the country. We have been able to attract significant investment. What I said is that we are supporting the industry with respect to internal combustion engines, but at the …
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Mr. Chair, that is what I said; just look at the record. We need to invest in different technology for now. The north star is the long-term view. That is why we have these investments that prepare us. We need to support the industry with the cars we make today, but also prepare for the future. That is what we see. If we look at the automakers, they have—
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Madam Chair, what this means is that everyone can find ways to improve efficiency. As I believe I have said, citizens have been tightening their belts for quite some time. It is only natural that we also ask federal institutions to tighten theirs. I know my colleague is familiar with a tool called technology. There are technologies available today that allow us to do things better and faster. We a…
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Mr. Chair, let me just correct the record of what I said before, because there were statements made that did not reflect it. What I said is that we are investing in supporting the industry. We need to support the industry with the cars they are making today, but at the same time, if we talk to the OEMs, the car manufacturers, they are also preparing for the cars of the future. Therefore, we want t…
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Mr. Chair, I am going to turn my back just for a second to say that the member for South Shore—St. Margarets came to my office to advocate for small craft harbours. She was there. She put her fist on the table. She said that I needed to listen and that we are going to do something. We did—
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Madam Chair, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague for being here this evening to ask his important question. I have already been in touch with the Government of Quebec and the other provincial governments to inform them of the amount that will be allocated. In the spirit of co-operative federalism, at the request of our provincial colleagues, we allowed the provinces to use these amounts…
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Mr. Chair, my colleague is asking questions about space. I think space is an important industry in Canada. I hope he is going to have many more questions. As a former minister responsible for the space agency, I will have a lot to say about that.
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Madam Chair, I will be happy to remind my colleague, who is a learned member of the House, that we have two fiscal anchors. One is a declining deficit-to-GDP ratio. The other is to balance the operating budget with revenues by 2028-29. Those are the two fiscal anchors of the Government of Canada.
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Mr. Speaker, we have made some of the largest investments in science and research. Canada is a world leader. Take artificial intelligence, for example. Since I was asked the question by a Bloc Québécois member, I would like to point out that Montreal, along with other cities in Canada, is recognized as a global hub for AI. This did not happen by chance. It happened because we have the ability to a…
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Mr. Speaker, one thing I will not take is lessons from the Conservatives on the work we are doing with respect to the auto sector. If the member goes to her constituents, she will see that, as the former industry minister, I always stood up, and the current government has always stood up, for the auto workers and the auto industry. We will always continue to do so. In fact, we have already put mea…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a very important question. In fact, we are going to make the capital gains tax exemption permanent when it comes to employee ownership trust. This is a measure that is being applauded by a number of people across the country. It is the kind of thing we see in Bill C-30. It is why, in the questions from opposition members, apart from the parliamentary opposition that we would e…
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Mr. Speaker, I have answered it a number of times. The Conservatives may not like my answer, but that is different. They may want to change the question. What I can say is, yes, we will debate it. Yes, we will be here to answer questions. Yes, we believe in accountability, but we believe in action as well. Canadians demand action from their government. They demand action from Parliament. They dema…
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Mr. Speaker, like my colleague, I also want to wish Bob Fife a happy retirement. I had the chance to send him a note. He has done a great service to journalism in Canada and to our democracy, and we applaud his work. When it comes to transparency, the member should be happy that the bill is going to go to committee. I am sure he will take all the time he needs in committee to make sure his voice c…
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Mr. Speaker, I know that member well. He is a member of Parliament who likes to debate and do his part. He will have the opportunity to do so because this bill will be reviewed in committee. I know that my colleague excels at presenting his point of view in committee. I think that today, he should stand up and say that he is willing to work, that he wants the bill to be referred to committee and t…
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Mr. Speaker, we all know that one of the pillars of affordability is, indeed, affordable housing. That is why we announced extraordinary measures to ramp up construction, increase innovation and help people find affordable housing. It is because we are very aware that this is one of the pillars of affordability. Affordability is at the heart of Bill C‑30. I therefore expect my Bloc Québécois colle…
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Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question. It is an important one because what we are saying is that we are making generational investments in infrastructure, housing, competitiveness, innovation and defence. It is true that we are going to need these young workers to build the country together. That is why we included exceptional, even generational, measures in the spring economic statement to p…
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Mr. Speaker, serving Canadians is in fact acting on behalf of Canadians. The thing that Canadians care about is affordability. The member should be standing in this House and saying, “Yes, I will support the government.” Why? There are measures that support Canadians on affordability, important measures around the gas tax and the suspension we announced. The member should be standing here and sayi…
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, we are listening to Canadians. I know the member quite well. I am sure he would be happy to report to his constituents that, when he is going to vote, there will be an additional two-year extension of the 2% cap on the annual alcohol excise duty inflation. He will go around and talk about the fact that he has been supporting the government, because this is something that cons…
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Mr. Speaker, I think that seasonal workers will be pleased. They will be surprised to hear what my colleague said. I have a great deal of respect for her, I know her well and she does extraordinary work. However, what I can say is that when we talk about seasonal workers, I think that all of my colleagues here are in favour of the measures we are offering in Bill C-30. Those workers need these mea…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague, for whom I have a great deal of respect. The primary responsibility of each and every one of us is, of course, to be a parliamentarian. It is to be a member of Parliament, to sit in this chamber and debate bills. That is what I have always done. Tomorrow, I will even be appearing before a House committee for four hours to answer questions f…
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Mr. Speaker, I am quite happy to talk about the deficit. In fact, the projected deficit for 2025-26 is actually $11 billion lower than what was projected, and this is because of the resiliency of the Canadian economy and the resiliency of Canadian workers. Even international agencies have said that Canada has the strongest fiscal position in the G7. I know the Conservatives do not want to hear tha…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, who is someone I hold in very high regard. I think that the people watching at home understand the circumstances we find ourselves in. I just got back from meetings with my G7 colleagues. The world is changing. We have to take concrete measures. The issue of affordability, for example, is very real for all Canadians across the country. Bill C‑30 would allow us to…
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Mr. Speaker, indeed, this bill, Bill C-30, would be helping Canadians with affordability. We all know this is top of mind for Canadians, wherever we go in the country. Let me point out other good things that are in Bill C-30. It would modify the labour mobility deduction for eligible tradespeople by increasing the annual limit on expenses that can be deducted. It would make permanent the capital g…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure the cameras are on and I am quite happy to speak to Canadians. I will go to other measures that I think the Conservatives should support. Division 4 of part 3 would amend the Employment Insurance Act and extend, until October 7, 2028, the duration of the measure that increases the maximum number of weeks for which benefits may be paid in a benefit period to certain seasonal …
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Mr. Speaker, I am surprised by the words used by the member, for whom I have enormous respect. I think he should listen to Canadians. In Bill C-30, we see important measures. Outside this chamber, the one thing Canadians talk to us about is affordability. Affordability is top of mind for Canadians when it comes to the price of homes, gas and food. Bill C-30 would implement the very important measu…
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Mr. Speaker, I have enormous respect for my colleague, and I always listen to her comments. In fact, what we are doing this morning would allow the committee to study the measures in the bill. The member will find that there are a number of measures there, for example with respect to seasonal workers and affordability. I know she would support them, because she is a member who has always supported…
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Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Leader of the Opposition understands that we are currently facing a global energy crisis. We know that Canadians' top priority is affordability, meaning the cost of housing, food and gas. The good news is that this is exactly what we have taken action on. We have suspended the federal excise tax on fuel, lowering the cost of gas for Canadians by 10¢. We on this side are …
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Mr. Speaker, the executive director of the International Energy Agency has said that we are currently facing the largest energy crisis in history. That is why we took action. We did not wait. In other words, we suspended the federal fuel tax. That is because we are acutely aware that we need to give Canadians a helping hand as the summer season approaches. We will always be there to stand up for t…
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Mr. Speaker, we will take no lessons from the Conservatives. Members can take my word on that. At every step of the way, when we put measures around affordability, they voted against them. They should be ashamed. At a time when Canadians are asking us to act on the cost of living, that is exactly what we have done. We are building more affordable houses, we have taken measures on affordability for…
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Mr. Speaker, in fact, my colleague has a selective memory because the PBO actually confirmed that the government is on track to reduce the deficit. The PBO addressed the current fiscal policy as “sustainable” under the IMF framework. We are building this country at a speed and scale not seen in a generation. We are supporting our young people. We are supporting our industry. The Conservatives shou…
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Mr. Speaker, we understand full well what people across the country are going through. That is why we have been there to make life more affordable. We are keenly aware that the first things on people's minds are affordable housing, groceries and gas. I have great news for my colleague: the Canada groceries and essentials benefit. On June 5, 12 million Canadians will receive federal support. We are…
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