Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Portage—Lisgar. I rise today to speak to the motion before the House regarding the programming debate on Bill C-9, the combatting hate act. I do so at a moment when the urgency of this legislation could not be higher. Over the past week, Canadians have, once again, been confronted with the disturbing reality of hate-motivated violence in…
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Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if my colleague across the way could describe why he continues to obstruct after there has been the introduction of a “for greater certainty” clause that would address the concerns that Canadians have and clarify that it would absolutely not be prohibited to read scripture, to preach or to read a religious text under this legislation. Why does the member opposite contin…
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Mr. Speaker, the last week has been supremely difficult with the shootings that we have seen at synagogues in our beautiful city. It is imperative that we pass this bill with speed. We often talk about how the hate around us, the hate we see online and the hate we see on our streets normalizes hate for everyone. It empowers people who want to incite and spew hate. Part of Bill C-9 is saying to all…
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Mr. Speaker, getting back to the purposes of this bill is important because it is about creating and protecting freedom of religion and the freedoms of conscience and expression for all Canadians. No Canadian should have their rights stepped on and impeded when they are faced and confronted in their day-to-day lives in places where they gather by the types of hate and violent and intimidating acts…
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Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for expressing the concerns that many of us have about the brutality of the Iranian regime and its wide-ranging terror campaign that is conducted through proxies across the Middle East and spilling into our streets. My colleague mentioned the spate of anti-Semitic violence that we have seen in recent days, and I wanted to ask him if he could speak a bit more…
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Mr. Speaker, I take the member's comments very seriously, and 7.7 million seniors are receiving their benefits on time and accurately in a system that is now designed to be more modern, accessible and secure. I would encourage the member, as the minister has said repeatedly, to speak to us if he knows of cases where there is urgent need. We are set up to deal with them in 24 to 48 hours, and we ar…
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Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the member opposite, I would recommend that he read the Auditor General's report on the modernization of benefits or the testimony and two reports from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, one from 2011 and the other from last fall. Of course we are working to address the backlog. Let us keep in mind that this is the largest digital project ever undertake…
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Mr. Speaker, we have been at this all week. Let me try to correct the member opposite's assertions. There is no cost overrun. The first phase of this project is on track with respect to modernizing old age security. There are other phases of work still to come, similarly to modernize EI and Canada pension plan benefits. The Auditor General has looked at this. The public accounts committee has look…
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Mr. Speaker, that same report mentions how our government's investments in the Canada child benefit, in dental care and in child care are helping families lower their cost of living. I welcome the Conservatives and the question, because it gives me an opportunity to talk about the supports we have in place to help all children. One child in poverty is too many, but that is why we have a Canada chi…
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Mr. Speaker, we should all be outraged about child poverty, but what we actually need are concrete plans. That is why, when the government brings forward plans like the national school food program and like affordable child care, it would be nice to have the support of the members opposite in passing those programs. Why has it been so difficult for us to have a permanent national school food progr…
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Mr. Speaker, it would be excellent for Canadians to also ask why, after so many years, the Conservatives continue to vote against the very programs that are supporting families in need, the most vulnerable families in our country, and our kids. Why will they not support a national school food program that we have put in place? It is going to help half a million kids coast to coast. Why will the Co…
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Mr. Speaker, let me try to correct some of the member's assertions today. There is no cost overrun on this project. It is in the first phase. The project is on track with respect to modernizing old age security. When this project is complete, as it is now delivering benefits on time and accurately for over 7.7 million seniors, we are going to see that this new modernization is actually there to su…
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Mr. Speaker, this modernization project is the largest IT project ever undertaken by the Government of Canada. When it is completed, it is going to finish the necessary modernization of our biggest benefit programs, which millions of Canadians rely on, to deliver billions of benefits over the course of our lives. This is a 60-year-old program that required updating. It is in progress. It is delive…
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Mr. Speaker, the 2011 report of the public accounts committee sounded the alarm on the lack of sustainable funding for renewing IT infrastructure, noting that major funding shortfalls posed a high risk for core programs not being able to support the aging system, but the Conservatives at the time, who were in government, chose to do nothing about it. Today, these investments are long overdue. The …
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to try to shed some light on this again for the members opposite. This initiative is a phased program. There is no cost overrun. The modernization of our old age security systems is necessary. I think all Canadians would understand that 60-year-old computer programs are outdated, obsolete and at risk. If we want Canadians to have their benefits on time and accurately, as this…
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Mr. Speaker, with great respect to the member opposite, I really would recommend to him the reports of the Auditor General on benefit delivery modernization and the testimony and report of the public accounts committee, both in 2011 and also from this past fall. We are obviously working to address the outstanding cases, but let us please keep in perspective that this is the single-largest IT moder…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we stand firmly in the belief that nobody should work for free in this country. We take any kind of claims of unpaid work very seriously. Workers must be paid for the hours they work. We are going to make sure that employers are following the rules, and we stood up in terms of the airline industry to make sure that we were doing an investigation into the labo…
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Mr. Speaker, what Canadians are tired of is rhetoric that says that Canada is broken and that we are not getting ahead. Canadians elected a government with a plan that is cutting taxes for 22 million Canadians, delivering a groceries and essentials benefit to put much-needed money back in the pockets of many Canadian families, and is committed to affordable child care, saving families upwards of $…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is squarely focused on opportunity. Opportunity means good job opportunities and affordable homes. As members might know, Bill C-4, our bill, is in front of the Senate right now, and it would eliminate GST for first-time homebuyers on homes up to $1 million. We have a bill in front of the House right now, Bill C-20, for Build Canada Homes, because we are focused on maki…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, this is the largest digital transformation ever undertaken. The vast majority of seniors are registered in the system and are receiving the right benefits on time. We have contacted members' offices to ask them for the names of the people affected and we have also offered members a briefing on the system.
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Mr. Speaker, our government continues to support seniors, including through the Canadian dental care plan and the new Canada groceries and essentials benefit. Processing OAS claims is a top priority, and the department is working hard to address this issue. The department has implemented an OAS action plan to mobilize all available resources to resolve this issue.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for representing the great people of Carleton and the issues they care about. Kids cannot learn if they are hungry. A new study by the Breakfast Club of Canada shows that school food programs improve educational outcomes, reduce childhood obesity and increase disposable incomes for families facing rising costs. Canada was the last country in the G7 to have a natio…
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Mr. Speaker, nobody should work for free in this country. We take any claim of unpaid work seriously. After allegations of unpaid work in the airline sector, we launched a probe to get to the bottom of the claims. Phase one of that probe has now been published. We are going to keep investigating to ensure that work is happening in accordance with the Canada Labour Code. Workers must be paid for th…
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Mr. Speaker, we stand by the work we are doing. We want to take action that is informed, and informed by evidence. We have asked all sides in this to provide that evidence. Phase two of the probe will collect more evidence from airlines and unions to ensure that employers are complying with the Canada Labour Code. This step is necessary to provide additional clarity on how the airline sector's pay…
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Mr. Speaker, the department has been working to modernize a decades-old system to be able to process claims more effectively in the decades to come. Right now, 7.7 million seniors are receiving their benefits on time, and the department is working urgently to deal with any cases where there has been a delay.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, this is the most extensive digital transformation ever. The vast majority of seniors are registered in the system and are receiving their benefits promptly and correctly. We have contacted MPs' offices to ask for the names of the Canadians concerned, and we have also offered to brief MPs on the system. Our government continues to support seniors in a variety of ways, includ…
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Mr. Speaker, the modernization of this system is a necessary upgrade of a 60-year-old system. It already offers a faster and easier way to access benefits. Currently, 7.7 million seniors are receiving their monthly benefits this way. This is the largest digital transformation initiative ever undertaken by the Government of Canada. Service Canada is striving to ensure that anyone facing urgent prob…
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Mr. Speaker, I wish the Conservatives knew more about construction, but it seems what they know about is obstruction. If these Conservatives cared about building homes for young Canadians, they would pass the two bills we have before the House right now. They would pass the budget implementation act and they would pass the Build Canada Homes act, because those are the tools that are getting shovel…
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Mr. Speaker, we stand with our auto workers, with unions and with the businesses that communities are built around, and they are standing with us. Auto workers, mayors, union leaders and premiers, including Premier Ford, called this a great auto strategy. Let me read this to the House. The President of Unifor Local 200 in Windsor, who chairs Unifor's auto council, says that he is “ecstatic” over t…
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Madam Speaker, that is not true. There is an adjustment period when implementing a new benefit delivery platform. The department is working hard to ensure that employees have the tools they need to become acquainted with the new system and deliver benefits effectively. The speed of service is already improving as employees become more familiar with the system. If anyone is having problems with the…
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Madam Speaker, as the minister said, the department is working as quickly as possible to resolve these problems and to ensure that the staff has the tools required to deliver benefits effectively. More than seven million seniors are now promptly and accurately receiving their benefits. We are modernizing this decades-old system to improve benefits payment for all seniors in the years to come.
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Madam Speaker, we are a government that stands squarely with our seniors. We have a long track record of defending them, of investing in long-term care and of protecting seniors through the difficult years of the pandemic. In particular, we have increased GIS, benefiting over a million seniors across Canada. We have increased our OAS payments to seniors over 75 when they face higher costs, expande…
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Madam Speaker, in the member's own home province of Alberta, unemployment has decreased this past month and the participation rate has actually climbed. That is part of the proof of the hard work that the government is doing with its solid and strategic economic plan for the country. We cannot move forward as a country unless we have the opposition's support to pass that economic plan, to invest i…
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Madam Speaker, as my colleague noted earlier, overall employment has been up over the past 12 months and wages continue to rise. These are proof points of an economic plan that is in action, but this is not over. The government brought forward this fall our economic plan in our budget, Bill C-15, which is before the House. It would create tens of thousands of jobs, jobs in the skilled trades. It w…
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Madam Speaker, this involves a major update to a system that is more than 60 years old. The minister's office has contacted the Bloc Québécois member to get the names of the constituents who urgently need help so we can resolve this issue. We have yet to hear back from the member regarding the names of those constituents. The department will continue to work to deal with these cases while continui…
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Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to rise in the House today to speak to this opposition motion. It is a motion that reflects what we have been hearing, frankly, from the opposition for several months now. Food affordability and bringing down the cost of living generally are worthy priorities. In fact, food affordability is a key priority for this side of the House, which I will come to in a moment…
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Madam Speaker, food affordability touches all Canadians. In my own riding of St. Paul's, whether it is seniors on a fixed income, young people or newcomers, they are going to benefit from this new groceries and essentials benefit that we have. It is one of the reasons the policy is in place. The benefit is a part of it, and the other piece is building the food security strategy to go with it to en…
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Madam Speaker, our policy as a government and our plan involves the types of supports and initiatives that farmers and industry would welcome, from building our supply chains to investing in rail and ports and ensuring that our biofuels are supported. I am someone who knows how much even Albertans care about the environment, and how much concern there is for the pristine nature in the national par…
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Madam Speaker, first and foremost, I did no such thing. What I did was challenge the Conservative opposition to work with us and to debate this issue with facts and not fiction. I would have the member opposite know that I may proudly represent a downtown Toronto riding, but I grew up in the heartland of Alberta. I know a thing or two about this country from coast to coast, and I am proud of it. I…
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Mr. Speaker, not only are we taking actual, concrete steps to make life more affordable for Canadians, but we are also investing in the kinds of supports that help families across the board, from early learning and child care to a national school food program, a Canada child benefit that is tied to inflation, and a dental care program. These are the kinds of programs Canadians depend on but that t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite the member opposite to have a look at the government's announcement this week. The new benefit that we have just announced is going to help 12 million Canadians. It is going to provide up to $1,890 this year for a family of four. This is a measure that food banks and Food Banks Canada have called for, and it is part of a broader plan that is going to see us actually imp…
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Mr. Speaker, we are helping young people face real challenges at every stage of their lives. When they want to go to school, we are making post-secondary education more affordable. When they are in school, we are helping them gain the skills they need for the jobs of the future. When they are ready to buy a home, we are cutting taxes for first-time homebuyers and building affordable housing fast. …
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Mr. Speaker, I would direct the member opposite to the announcement we made this week. The government has a serious plan to make life more affordable for Canadians. We are addressing one of the things the member opposite talked about. We are going to be increasing competition in the market. We are going to introduce unit price labelling. This is part of our plan to bring down prices for Canadians …
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Mr. Speaker, for many families across Canada, Alzheimer's is not an abstract illness; it is a daily reality, lived in small moments and carried by loved ones who show up with patience and care. January is Alzheimer's Awareness Month, a time to wear the forget-me-not as a symbol of hope, and a time to recognize the more than 750,000 Canadians living with dementia and the millions of family members …
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Mr. Speaker, it is jobs and a strong economy will benefit every family in this country, which is why it is significant that, just this morning, Statistics Canada confirmed that we have created over 54,000 net new jobs this past month. When jobs are there for families, families benefit, but it does not stop there. Just yesterday, we announced a new early learning and child care deal in Ontario. Par…
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2025 set out to make life more affordable for Canadians. The member voted against the very programs that are going to support families in her community. Budget 2025 cuts taxes for 22 million Canadians, makes the national school food program permanent, delivers automatic tax filing for over 5.5 million Canadians, makes generational investments in housing and infrastructure and s…
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Mr. Speaker, when will the Conservatives recognize what farmers already know, which is that the industrial carbon price has zero impact on food prices? We have heard this from experts in the House. Let us talk about what is going to benefit all Canadians, which are good jobs and a strong economy. Today, Statistics Canada says we are doing both. We have created over 54,000 net new jobs in this past…
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Mr. Speaker, it is good jobs and a strong economy that are going to benefit all Canadians. Statistics Canada this morning announced that we created 54,000 net new jobs, with 50,000 for young people alone. We stood up in the House last week, last Friday, and talked about how our GDP is growing. Today, we are telling members that wages are up, rents are down, unemployment is down and youth unemploym…
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Mr. Speaker, instead of harping on about imaginary taxes that the Conservatives know are not real and are not affecting the price of food, they should think about their own conduct in the House. They should think about their votes. When it comes to our budget, our budget does some key things. It improves access to the Canada disability benefit. It strengthens EI to protect workers. It increases in…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday, we announced a new child care agreement with Ontario that is going to save families up to $10,400 per year, but do not take my word for it. Kristina Medow is an Ontario mom here in Ottawa, and she says that early learning and child care has changed her family's future. She says, “Having access to high quality affordable childcare is the biggest piece of mind that …
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