Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak forcefully against the motion—
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak very forcefully against Motion No. 219, which was brought forward by the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, that seeks to instruct the justice committee to drop its work on the combatting hate act, Bill C-9, and instead launch a taxpayer-funded, cross-country tour as a means of delaying the committee's work. Let us be clear from the start that this motion …
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Mr. Speaker, I am a proud Christian. I am a proud Canadian. I believe in the tenets of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and I believe deeply in our freedom of expression, but I am also a lawyer, and I understand that there is a boundary. When speech crosses a high threshold into hate, inciting fear, inciting violence and calling for the death or extermination of our fellow citizens, it is simpl…
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Mr. Speaker, when I talk to seniors in my riding, they talk to me about the Canadian dental care program. They say that it is life-changing, that it is getting them dental care they have not had for years or for the first time. They talk to me about the New Horizons program and how we are supporting projects that improve their quality of life. They talk to me about the $5 billion that budget 2025 …
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Mr. Speaker, we have a national school food program that is going to save parents up to $800 a year, a dental care program, a tax cut for 22 million Canadians, early learning and child care and a Canada child benefit. The Leader of the Opposition stood up in the House today and called them “costly promises”. Members opposite called them “photo ops”. They called them “garbage”. They called them “so…
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Mr. Speaker, I too have had the experience of working during COVID, when there were protests outside hospitals and vaccine clinics. As a government, we took the same steps. We protected doctors and nurses doing their jobs. We protected Canadians wanting to get vaccines. The same things are happening in Canada today; we need to protect places of worship, community centres and other places where com…
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Mr. Speaker, I would urge the Conservative bench to stand up and vote in favour of this bill, because I have yet to see evidence that they would support this bill and protect Canadians from hate and intimidation. In the two years since October 7, I have yet to hear a Conservative stand up in favour of safe access zones, for example, in municipalities across this country. We know exactly where the …
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Mr. Speaker, it is selfish, and the Conservatives should be ashamed of their behaviour in stalling this bill. I have to tell members that I speak to constituents in my riding all the time who are affected by the hate on their streets and in their communities. They are scared of dropping their children off at day care or their young students going to university, going on campus or going to downtown…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said in my remarks, the Minister of Justice is open to considering good faith amendments to this bill. The government does not hold a monopoly on great legislation. Let us move that legislation forward. Let us have those debates in good faith. Let us talk critically about the state of the law and what it actually is, not what the Conservatives want people online to believe it is.…
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Mr. Speaker, it would have been great if the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights had been able to hear more witnesses, but because of the Conservatives' filibustering, those on the witness list were not able to appear in front of the committee. The Conservatives were too busy talking about their family pets and filibustering the work that needed to be done.
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Mr. Speaker, with many issues like this, it behooves the members opposite to stand up and actually read the Criminal Code and its definition of hate. Their approach to these issues is to fearmonger and to shed light on situations that are unlikely to see the light of day in a court of law. The Criminal Code defines hate as: communicating statements in any public place, [inciting] hatred against an…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Reflecting on this year's United Nations' theme, “fostering disability inclusive societies for advancing social progress”, we are reminded that inclusion is not just an aspiration; it is a responsibility. This year our government launched the Canada disability benefit, a vital new addition to our social safety ne…
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Madam Speaker, let me remind the member, who comes from the same province that I do, that we are helping invest in the new Darlington nuclear project in Bowmanville. It is a project that is going to build four new small nuclear reactors, the first of its kind in the G7. It is going to provide clean, reliable electricity to power 1.2 million homes. It is going to reduce our carbon emissions. It is …
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Mr. Speaker, it really seems to me like the member opposite missed her chance to vote for a tax cut to benefit 22 million Canadians, including constituents in her riding. The member spoke about engineers. Just this morning, I met with the International Union of Operating Engineers. There are 18,000 here in Ontario. We talked about the importance of early learning and child care, because they need …
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Mr. Speaker, this government is investing in infants and children of all ages. Not only did we create the Canada child benefit, but families received it last week. We also committed to $10-a-day child care spaces across the country. Parents in my riding are saving over $10,000 a year for their kids. However, members should not take my word for it. Let me tell the House about what a parent said at …
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Mr. Speaker, the other side of the House does not want to listen to the facts and to the stakeholders that work in these areas, so let us come back to the Conservatives' record. Let us talk about the measures this House has put in place to make life more affordable for Canadians. That side of the House says child care does not create spaces and dental care is a duplication. They say pharmacare is …
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Mr. Speaker, let me add to what my colleague just said to the House. The Canadian Climate Institute yesterday said, “Industrial carbon pricing has essentially no impact on the price of food and the agricultural sector.” Farmers do not pay the industrial price. The air is a little thin on that side of the House today, and I would like to remind those members that they voted against making the natio…
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Mr. Speaker, budget 2025 has two fiscal anchors: a debt-to-GDP ratio baseline and balancing operating expenditures over the next three years. Our former Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page, recently stated that he is comfortable with budget deficits of about 2.5% of the GDP given the current economic context. Canada is ahead of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and France, and that includes …
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about how Canada is one of only a handful of countries around the world that maintain a AAA credit rating. That stamp of approval means that we have not just a strong fiscal position but also an enviable one. The head of the IMF has said that Canada is acting decisively to use its fiscal space to make the investments that are going to boost our productivity and growth. We …
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Mr. Speaker, the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan is concerned about the issue of employment, and indeed, the Canadian labour market is going through a period of disruption. A massive retirement wave is leading to a critical labour shortage. In fact, 300,000 skilled workers are expected to retire by 2033. This is a difficult situation, but the Government of Canada is committed to prepari…
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Mr. Speaker, do not take it from me; take it from Sean Strickland from Canada's Building Trades Unions, who commented on our budget. He stated, “The 2025 federal budget contains strong commitments to unionized labour and skilled tradespeople. “It goes to show it’s possible to create policies that are mutually beneficial when industry and government come to the table together.... “Strong labour con…
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Mr. Speaker, I think it depends on the types of books a member might want to read. Let us talk about books. This week in the House, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations has been on the Hill representing students from across the land. Here is what Abdul Abbasi, the Chair of CASA and a student from the University of Alberta, had to say about the budget: “Students are pleased to see that the…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about two of the main areas of costs for families; let us talk about taxes and let us talk about housing. The budget cuts taxes for 22 million Canadians, bringing the basic tax rate down from 15% to 14%. This is a major tax cut. It is about $5 billion a year in tax relief for Canadians, and 85% goes to the lowest income tax brackets alone. With regard to housing, we are ma…
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Mr. Speaker, that is a bit rich coming from Poilievre's biographer, but let us talk—
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Mr. Speaker, let me keep going. Let me talk about the youth in Toronto—St. Paul's, because this side of the House knows that our economic future depends on them. That is why we are saying that whatever ambition means to Canada's youth, whether it is to shape the future of AI, whether it is to join the climate corps, whether it is to make a great Canadian film, whether it is to study higher educati…
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Mr. Speaker, let me talk about the people in my riding, like seniors, who are benefiting from the budget. When I talk to them, I hear about dental care and their saving $800 a year. I hear about our new horizons program for seniors, supporting projects that affect seniors' quality of life. I hear about $5 billion in the budget going to health care and hospital infrastructure. Most importantly, I h…
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Mr. Speaker, what is remarkable about this budget is that it builds for the future but helps people today. This is a budget that cuts taxes for 22 million Canadians, saving families up to $800 a year. It makes the national school food program permanent, helping over half a million kids. It delivers automatic federal tax filing for five and a half million Canadians. It invests in housing, it invest…
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Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives think they know best, but they are actually ignoring the experts. They are ignoring the Coalition for Healthy School Food, which calls this budget a “great step forward to support children and youth in Canada.” They are ignoring the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Breakfast Club of Canada, which also applaud our commitment to making the national school food progr…
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Mr. Speaker, on this historic day, I rise to recognize the life and work of the late Andrew Moor, who served 18 years as CEO of EQ Bank and who was a long-time resident of Toronto—St. Paul's. We lost him suddenly this summer. Our thoughts are with his wife, Mags, and his three children, Dan, Cat and Sarah. Andrew was a true Canadian pioneer driven by an unwavering belief that banks should, above a…
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Mr. Speaker, our new government is proud to support a commitment to collective bargaining. Free and fair collective bargaining is at the heart of a stable labour relations regime. Tonight, I will provide an update on the ongoing labour dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. I will also highlight the work we are doing to to help the parties reach an agreement. First, …
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Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that Canada has been built on the strength of our labour movements. This government strongly supports labour in Canada. We have banned replacement workers. We have introduced 10 days of paid sick leave. Just today, the Minister of Jobs and Families announced a major reinvestment in the union training and innovation program to create tens of thousands o…
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Mr. Speaker, Conservative members pretend to care about food insecurity, but then they call feeding children “garbage”, which is completely unacceptable. Up to 400,000 more kids are getting healthy meals in their school. This is saving parents up to $800 a year on their grocery bills. That is meaningful change. How can Canadians take the party opposite seriously when it literally wants to take foo…
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Mr. Speaker, the reason we are making generational investments in young people is that we believe they are the future. When we think about affordability today, it is also why we listen to groups like, for example, Right To Food, because it talks about the need to strengthen our social safety net, including affordable child care, dental care, the workers benefit and the child benefit. It is why we …
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Mr. Speaker, we are making generational investments into Canada to build this country strong for the next generation. We are building housing. We are investing in skills. We are building major projects to create jobs. Our plan is working. We are making progress. We have more to do. On November 4, Conservatives have the ability to stand up and support us as we build this country to make it better f…
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Mr. Speaker, let me take an opportunity to shed some light on the Conservative youth plan, which borrows heavily from the MAGA playbook. It includes restricting student financial aid to the programs the Conservatives like and defunding the ones they do not like. With their track record, we should be worried about basic science, arts, literature, culture, environmental studies, public health and ea…
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Mr. Speaker, in our budget, what people will see are the kinds of investments that are actually going to set young people on the right path forward, creating jobs, investing in skills and apprenticeships, investing in affordable homes and making it easier for young people to get into those homes. Those are the kinds of investments we are making. When members on the opposite side of the House stand…
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Mr. Speaker, when we talk about spending less to invest more, it is because we believe that we need to create prosperity for the younger generations of Canadians. When we look at our track record, we see that housing starts are up under the Prime Minister, construction investment is up and wages are up, and we have created over 100,000 full-time jobs in the past month alone. We have a responsible …
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Mr. Speaker, our government has said that in the upcoming budget, it is going to be making generational investments. They will be generational because we know that youth are at the heart of Canada's future, and we have a plan to ensure that they succeed. It is why we are going to be creating tens of thousands of jobs thorough major projects that the Conservatives call “pathetic”. It is why we are …
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Mr. Speaker, we are protecting the trucking industry. We have taken steps to ensure that truck drivers have fair pay. We have taken steps to ensure that misclassification is made illegal; we are enforcing that more than ever. We continue to work with the provinces, especially with Quebec, on this issue. Our priority remains making sure that we are keeping our roads safe and that we are supporting …
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Mr. Speaker, licensing is a provincial responsibility, so it is up to the provinces to take appropriate action. We will stand up for truckers who deserve to receive fair wages and to be protected under the law. More than 1,000 inspections have been carried out, and truckers can confidentially report offences. We are protecting those who speak up. Our priority is to keep our roads and drivers safe.
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Mr. Speaker, when we talk about making generational investments in our upcoming budget, it is because we believe, on this side of the House, youth and young people are the drivers of our future economic growth, and we have a responsible plan to ensure they have the skills and opportunities to succeed. We built on the work we are doing to support apprenticeships and Red Seal trades, co-ops and acce…
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Mr. Speaker, visiting Ottawa today are two incredible athletes, Ava Walsh and Gracie Ryckman, as well as coaches, staff and volunteers from Special Olympics Canada. For more than 50 years, the Special Olympics have shown us the power of inclusion, creating opportunities for Canadians with disabilities to build on their strengths, foster lifelong friendships and shine on and off the field. Across t…
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Mr. Speaker, let us deal in facts. These jobs numbers are for September. At the end of a summer, many youth are leaving jobs and going back to school or back to other work. Coming back to what the Liberal government is doing, we are investing a billion dollars, for example, in Red Seal trades for apprenticeships. We are investing in work-integrated learning. We are investing in co-ops. Most import…
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Mr. Speaker, let us talk about those jobs numbers today. Statistics Canada reported that employment has increased by 60,000 jobs. That includes 28,000 jobs in manufacturing, 14,000 new jobs in health care and 106,000 full-time jobs. We have a plan. We are making progress, and we are going to be there to create good-paying, career-starting jobs for all Canadians.
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Mr. Speaker, the data does not lie. In September, we created over 100,000 new full-time jobs in this country. Those are good jobs for all Canadians. We are embarking on a plan that is not only going to build projects, but build homes and make those homes more affordable for young Canadians. We are bringing forward a budget next month that is going to make a generational investment in Canadian indu…
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Mr. Speaker, we are supporting the retirement security of health care and home care workers. We are investing in union training and in the skilled trades. We are building major projects and new homes. We are creating tens of thousands of quality jobs across the country for unionized workers. Our government will continue to support unions and unionized workers.
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Mr. Speaker, we continue to invest in our workers right across the board and in making EI easier to access. In addition, we are investing in all sorts of union training and skilled trades, building major projects and new homes, and creating tens of thousands of good jobs right across the country. Our government is going to continue to stand with workers, making sure they have access to the program…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, licensing is a provincial responsibility, so it is up to the provinces to take appropriate action. We will stand up for truckers who deserve fair wages and who deserve to be protected under the law. Misclassification in the trucking industry is illegal and we are ensuring that the law is enforced. More than 1,000 inspections and awareness activities have …
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Mr. Speaker, we know that income insecurity touches a lot of people in Canada. It is one of the reasons that today we announced that the national school food program, a program that is going to help feed nearly half a million kids, is being made permanent. That program is going to save families up to $800 a year. We are also making progress on another important driver of income insecurity, and tha…
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Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada, this morning, told Canadians that last month, this new government created over 100,000 new full-time jobs. That is progress. This government is committed to building a strong Canadian economy, the strongest one in the G7. That involves creating major projects and building affordable housing. These plans are going to help employ tens of thousands of people and create…
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