Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, this week the media reported that the Conservative leader is preventing members of Parliament in the Conservative Party from advocating for their citizens and for housing investments. The Liberal government is there for Canadians. We are instituting a tax holiday, a tax break for Canadians when they need it most. The question on everybody's mind is whether Conservative members are goi…
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Mr. Speaker, when we proposed funding programs that would prevent gang violence, the Conservatives voted against it. When we proposed other measures in order to ensure greater security in our communities, the Conservatives voted against them. Essentially, the Conservatives have voted even against investing in greater border security. The Conservatives come today and talk about the importance of ma…
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Mr. Speaker, I have had the pleasure of working with the member opposite in committee and I know that he is committed to the safety and security of our young people. I have witnessed the alarming rise in mental health issues, particularly among young Canadians. I have also seen, with my own eyes, that gang violence is on the rise in my community. One thing that I feel is so important about the Lib…
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Mr. Speaker, obviously, we still have work to do to finish what we started. However, I would have liked the Bloc Québécois to stay strong when things got a little tough in committee. When we debated Bill C-21, the Bloc Québécois remained oddly silent, although we would have liked them to support the amendments we brought forward at the time. I hope to be able to work with the Bloc Québécois and Po…
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Mr. Speaker, the Liberal government is giving a tax break to all Canadians. That means there is not going to be GST on essential goods, everyday goods like groceries, toys for the holidays and kids' clothing. We know that Canadians are looking forward to this tax break. We know that it is being done responsibly. It will be done for two months. The question on everybody's mind is whether the Conser…
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Mr. Speaker, that question has been answered. One question I have is how far the Conservatives are going to go. The Conservative leader wants to take away $10 a day child care from Canadian mothers. He wants to take away dental care subsidies from our seniors. He wants to take away 750,000 new construction builds from Canadians who want to buy their first home. Now the newest policy of the Conserv…
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Mr. Speaker, we recently lost a great Quebec artist. Lucien Francoeur was a legendary poet, an iconic counter-culture icon, a radio host, a French teacher and, of course, a rocker with Aut'Chose. He left his mark on the collective imagination of our Quebec. He was a proud member of the Outremont community for nearly four decades, having lived there for nearly 40 years. It was a real honour to run …
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Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and in accordance with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour and privilege to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Amendments to the Agreement Establishing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development”, adopted by the board of governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Developmen…
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Madam Speaker, I get the feeling that Conservatives have an inferiority complex when it comes to the United States. The IMF predicts that Canada's growth will outpace growth in the United States next year. This morning, Statistics Canada revealed that we created 15,000 jobs in October. I hope my colleague understands that we will be there to ensure that the economy keeps growing. I am proud to be …
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Madam Speaker, I do not think my colleague has seen the Statistics Canada figures that came out yesterday. Statistics Canada revealed yesterday that our growth is even stronger than expected, and this is actually because of increased investments in Canada. Investors from around the world want to invest in Canada because we offer stability. That is what matters.
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Madam Speaker, it is no wonder that the Conservatives are not talking about the economy today. This is because Statistics Canada raised its numbers yesterday. In fact, it revised growth in Canada upward. Do members know why? It is because business investment is streaming into Canada. Investors are looking to Canada because we offer stability and certainty. That is translating into growth and into …
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Mr. Speaker, foreign direct investment is up in Canada. Investors are coming to Canada because we provide stability. We provide opportunity. Canada has a long-standing history of standing up for and protecting Canadian workers. With respect to the last NAFTA negotiations, it was the Conservative Party of Canada that asked us to back down. We did not. We stood up for steelworkers. We stood up for o…
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Mr. Speaker, we love powerful paycheques. Actually, wages have outpaced inflation in Canada for the last 20 months. The member opposite wants to talk about the United States. I have some information for him. Last week, the economist David Rosenberg said, “US-based investors should strongly consider moving from New York to Toronto”. I am not a Leafs fan, but I happen to agree with that economist, a…
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Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives would like to make comparisons with the United States, I have one for them. Canada ran a deficit of just 1.1% of GDP in 2023. That is compared to a 6.3% of GDP deficit in the United States of America. We have made sure to be responsible with our balance sheet and we are doing it while supporting vulnerable Canadians. The Conservatives' hidden agenda is to cut prog…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, my grandparents had diabetes, my mom has diabetes and so do nearly four million Canadians. That is one in 10 of us. It may be our family, our friends or our neighbours. Insulin and other diabetes medications are expensive, and if one does not have private insurance, that is a huge monthly expense. However, all that is going to change because our government is making diabetes medicatio…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, as of this morning, the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 50 basis points, bringing interest rates down to just 3.75%. That is good news for hard-working Canadians. It is going to help families who need to renew their mortgage. It is going to help young people wanting to go out and buy their first home. It is going to give some breathing room to folks who have debts and loans to re…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, by ensuring that large investment profits are not taxed less than the paycheques of middle-class Canadians, we are not only ensuring greater tax fairness, we are also supporting our ability to invest in Canadians and in a growing economy that benefits all generations. This is an important step in our government's plan to build a Canada that works better for everyone, where young peo…
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Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe the Conservatives' hypocrisy. They voted against our measure to freeze the handgun market across the country, yet they come here and ask questions about gun violence. It makes no sense. We know we need to take action. We have in fact taken very concrete measures. We froze the handgun market a year ago. It is starting to work. Keeping our communities safe will take the…
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Madam Speaker, I will begin by explaining the “why”: Why have we introduced these changes to capital gains in Canada? The revenue generated from our changes to capital gains will help pay for many of the programs we have put in place. I am thinking, among others, of our national school food program, which aims to help vulnerable children who do not have enough to eat. This helps them learn. To poi…
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Mr. Speaker, if we read the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report from today, we will see that he further confirmed once again that eight out of 10 Canadian families get more in the carbon rebate than they pay in the price on pollution. It was also clear from today's report that the economic cost of pollution is not being factored in. That cost is $34 billion per year, and it does not include the …
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Mr. Speaker, we see the Conservatives' hypocrisy. They talk about people in need, yet they oppose funding our community cafeterias and non-profits. They talk about people living on the street, yet they oppose investing to create more housing in this country. They have a hidden agenda, and everything they say in the House is bunk.
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Mr. Speaker, I think if you check, you will find that this word has been used in the past. I would be happy to respond once the Chair has done the research.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I did not have an opportunity to respond to any questions during question period today, because the Conservatives have no economic questions. I am so grateful to the member for Calgary Centre for his question tonight because in fact the Bank of Canada is leading the G7 in interest rate cuts. Canada was the first G7 country to lower interest rates for the very first time. We were als…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, unfortunately my Conservative colleague seems to be cheering on the idea of a recession, which would be bad news for Canadians. In fact, as I have explained, Canada is projected to have the highest growth rate of our G7 peers in 2025, which is just next year. I would also note that the Conservatives' desperation for bad economic news is not working very well for them, because Canadi…
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Mr. Speaker, as soon as the minister heard about the very serious allegations, she took action. The minister announced an immediate halt to all Canadian government-led activity at the bank while we conducted a review of the allegations. In December, we announced an expansion of that review in partnership with some of our closest international partners. The Department of Finance continues to review…
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Mr. Speaker, our government's priority is to deliver results for all Quebeckers and all Canadians. That includes child care spaces, a dental care program and historic investments in housing. What are the Conservatives focusing on in the meantime? Well, as reported in the Journal de Montréal this week, Conservative MPs are taking trips to Florida to preach about the importance of banning abortion a…
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Madam Speaker, when will the Conservatives stop betting against the success of Canadians? Canada's growth is projected to beat that of all our peers: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and I could go on. However, the Conservatives have hitched their political and electoral fortunes on the failure of the Canadian economy. The truth is that we are making the economic pie larger and larg…
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Madam Speaker, cynical politicians, like the Conservatives, have tied their political fortunes to the failure of the Canadian economy. Good economic news for Canadians is actually bad news for the Conservatives. They have told us time and again that there would be perpetual inflation unless we adopted their austerity agenda. Inflation is at an historic low. It is at 2%, which is exactly the target…
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Madam Speaker, it takes an incredible amount of cynicism for people to tie their political fortunes to the failure of the Canadian economy, as the Conservatives are doing. The Conservative Leader once argued that there would be perpetual inflation unless we adopted his austerity agenda. We held our ground and now inflation is back down to a historic low of 2%. Does he really believe all the nonsen…
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Madam Speaker, I am quite concerned about where the Conservatives are getting many of their ideas these days, because records show that the Conservative leader got his advice on how to help Canadians struggling with the cost of living from a Loblaws lobbyist. He gets his advice on Ukraine from Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson. He has courted support from misogynists and far-right hate groups, and thes…
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Madam Speaker, unlike the Conservatives, we do see the value in consulting experts from across Canada. Let us talk about where the Conservatives have been getting their advice lately. The leader of the Conservative Party gets his advice on how to help Canadians with the rising cost of food from a Loblaw lobbyist. The Conservatives also get their advice from Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson. The Conser…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I simply cannot put it any way other than to say that my Conservative colleague is obviously misinformed. When it comes to business investments, I can tell members that Canada is currently third in the world for attracting foreign direct investments, and that is for the very first time in our country's history. It is an amazing achievement that highlights the focus of our government…
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Madam Speaker, I think that the Conservatives' priority has been rather clear so far. Other than abandoning the fight against climate change, all they talk about is doing whatever they can to protect those who earn more than $250,000 a year in profit on their investments, even if that creates more inequality and raises the deficit that they regularly pretend to complain about. My Conservative coll…
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No, Madam Speaker, I do not include provincial debt in the federal debt. Since I only have one minute and my colleague raises several points, I thought I would take the opportunity, given the news of today, to remind Canadians that inflation has fallen from its high, at over 8%, to just 2% in Canada. That is a reduction of over three-quarters, beating all forecasts, and is now perfectly in line wi…
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, the member opposite is a graduate of the Ivey Business School. He knows numbers very well. Clearly, he is a fan of numbers, and I am too, so I will follow along his line of argument around the number 40, a debt-to-GDP ratio at 40%. As a woman in her forties, I feel like I know this number well. The member opposite mentioned 40% debt-to-GDP ratio, and I understand why most people fee…
Read full speech →Statements By Members
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about women's health and the need for a greater understanding of how injury and disease present and are treated in the female body. I do so following my own experience after suffering a concussion. Reviews have shown that as few as 7% of the studies on brain injuries take into account gender differences and how women are impacted. I understand that women's bodies …
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Mr. Speaker, that question has been asked and answered several times already today. My question for the Conservatives is this: Why should a dollar earned from working, whether it be as an insurance broker, a fish plant worker, a construction worker or a cashier, be taxed higher than a dollar received as profit from the sale of an investment? Why is it that a person flipping burgers pays a higher t…
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Mr. Speaker, I would invite my colleague opposite to look into the important small business tax exemption that is also coming into effect. I would like to know why the Conservatives would rather slash the pensions of our seniors than ask the wealthy to pay just a little more. I would like to ask the Conservatives why they would rather cut school lunches for over 400,000 children than to ask the on…
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Mr. Speaker, I would just like to make very clear one important point, and that is that the changes we have introduced in the budget are just not going to affect the paycheques of Canadians. Anybody taking home a salary in Canada is not going to see a change based on what we have presented for capital gains. In fact, what we are asking is with respect to those who do not make a salary, who have th…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is supportive of international efforts to end the corporate tax race to the bottom and ensure that the world's largest corporations do pay their fair share. Our priority, of course, has always been a multilateral approach, but we must defend our national interests. We will not accept a delay to the implementation of our own digital services tax without a clear timeline for an i…
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Mr. Speaker, Canadians are well aware that it is our Liberal government that is taking action to support Canadians. I think Canadians can see right through the Conservatives' empty rhetoric. Just a few days ago, the Conservatives voted against the national food policy. If they really had the interests of Canadians at heart, they would not have voted against them.
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Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, Conservative members voted against the interests of farmers. Just a few days ago, they also voted against measures to promote women's participation in the economy, against free menstrual products, against funding for sexual misconduct investigations and against subsidizing child care. What do the Conservatives have against measures that support women?
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, like every year, yesterday, I was at the Prime Minister's side at the December 6 commemoration, surrounded by my grieving community. It has now been 34 years since the tragic loss of 14 women, 14 Polytechnique students who were full of promise and destined for bright futures. I was able to honour their memory this week by participating in the Order of the White Rose ceremony and by aw…
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Mr. Speaker, our job as a government has been to balance compassion with fiscal responsibility, and that is exactly what we have done. We are there for Canadians with the Canada child benefit. We are there for families with supports. We are there for our seniors with supports. When the member opposite talks about being there for Canadians, I wonder why that very member has been filibustering our m…
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Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives continue to talk down the economy, I will ask members to allow me to add in a few more facts. We have ensured that 1.1 million additional jobs are available to Canadians since the end of the pandemic. That is important because those are well-paying jobs. Wages have actually increased and outpaced inflation in this country. The report that my Conservative collea…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite's question gives me an opportunity to let him know what is up. What is up in this country is home construction. Our fall economic statement has indicated that we are building more homes from coast to coast to coast, right across this great country, because that is what Canadians need right now. It also contains important measures that will strengthen competition in…
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Mr. Speaker, I can hardly believe that the Conservatives are talking about taxes. We reduced taxes for middle-class Canadians on two occasions, and the entire Conservative caucus, every single Conservative member, voted against lowering taxes for the Canadians who needed it most. The fall economic statement we put forward this week shows the strong fundamentals of our fiscal frame. We have the low…
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Mr. Speaker, when we unveiled our plan to build more homes across the country faster, the Conservative leader called that disgusting. When the Conservatives talk about the spending that they would cut, they are talking about removing supports that Canadians need. They are talking about taking away the benefits that Canadians rely on, benefits for seniors, for families and for people who need them …
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday we tabled the fall economic update, which shows the solid foundations of our fiscal frame and shows that we were able to maintain fiscal responsibility while being compassionate and being there for Canadians. We are building more homes and we are building them faster. We are changing competition laws in order to stabilize prices in this country. What the Conservatives are pr…
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Mr. Speaker, in the economic statement that we presented yesterday, we are investing more in housing co-operatives in Quebec and across Canada. We are doubling down on the fight against rental properties like Airbnbs, because we know that Quebec has very strong local regulations, and we want to support that. We also know that there are families that are still struggling to make ends meet. That is …
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