Government Orders
Mr. Chair, I want to extend a special thanks to my colleague because of his work on the biomass ITC, which he was instrumental in helping bring forward. I want to offer a comment that I hope the member will respond to on the trade negotiations with the United States and the psychology of the U.S. President, about which I will be modest in my comments. He is a deal maker, and he does come from a de…
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Mr. Chair, reality is obviously much more complicated. Europe has a 10% tariff, but it is quite far away and does not have the natural advantage of geography that we do. It also does not have the quality of wood we do. One of the benefits of Canadian lumber production is that it is built in an environment that is colder, so the wood becomes more dense. It also allows, because we do it in a more na…
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Mr. Chair, yes, it is possible. Softwood lumber exporters are clearly facing significant debt and need financial assistance in the form of cash flow. However, there are risks associated with such a program, as we have heard. That said, we are open to considering all options that could help boost cash flow and strengthen the sector's financial situation.
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Mr. Chair, my colleague's question touches on a couple of important points worth highlighting. First, any support of the forestry sector is going to require collaboration with the provinces, because it is simply not going to work otherwise. When we look at tenure in particular and at economic access to fibre, that really is in the provincial hands primarily. There are things the federal government…
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Mr. Chair, it is an excellent idea, and while it is not my place alone to be able to make that decision, I am certainly supportive of it and will work with the department.
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Mr. Chair, obviously the hearts of everybody here tonight in this take-note debate go out to anybody who is affected, and I really, truly hope that we as a chamber can come up with solutions to make their lives better, which is exactly what the purpose of this take-note debate is. We will be announcing additional supports this week. I really encourage the opposition to reach out with their ideas. …
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Mr. Chair, I completely agree: We need to be seized with urgency on this. In fact, when forestry executives informed the minister on Thursday that they were having trouble accessing these funds, he reached out to the major banks, which are responsible for delivering this BDC product. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources talked with the banks last night to make sure they were as seized with…
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member for his question. Yes, all that is interconnected. The forestry sector is an ecosystem. I think the hon. member for Jonquière described it as a chain. I completely agree, and it falls apart if any part gets weak. When we talk about supports for the forestry sector, one of the things I discussed in my remarks was that we need to talk about the communities around it as …
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Mr. Chair, obviously both are big numbers. We know that the number in support of forestry needs to get even bigger, so stay tuned, because later this week we will have something additional to say on that. In terms of the flowing of funding from the previous announcements, we have just discussed the $700 million in liquidity, which is flowing right now. That money is making its way through. Some bu…
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Mr. Chair, I wanted to inquire about the comments around 30 by 30 and access to economic fibre. I feel that it is hard to blame 30 by 30 for a lack of fibre when, as noted, B.C.'s tenures are not being fully used. In fact, when I look at Scandinavian countries and European countries with a much smaller footprint, they tend to be quite robust in their generation of fibre. This is a very large count…
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Mr. Chair, my colleague touched on something we have not discussed enough so far tonight: the effects of climate change on the forestry sector. She is absolutely right; it is creating challenges in terms of the spruce budworm and the pine beetle, and of course it is making forest fires larger in areas quite far away from where we have ever managed woods, because there are drier and hotter conditio…
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Madam Chair, we have already talked about the fact that, with negotiations, we cannot just magically wish them to go better, but I certainly welcome any suggestions on how to deal with Donald Trump. I wanted to turn to a comment that was made about B.C. and the fact that not all the tenures are being used, which I think is true. The forestry sector, of course, to be successful needs four things. I…
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Mr. Chair, our government is there and will continue to be there to help the Canadian softwood lumber industry. The forestry sector is core to our economy and our Canadian identity. My own family's story has been interwoven with Canadian forestry for centuries. My father David Hogan grew up in mill towns and worked summers at the newsprint mill. My grandfather John Hogan was a career pulp worker w…
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Madam Speaker, the budget implementation act would put this into law. It would enable the investments, the tax changes, the housing measures and the competitiveness strategy that budget 2025 lays out. We often talk in this chamber about the future, what kind of country we want to build, what kinds of opportunities we want to leave our children and how we can ensure that Canada remains strong, pros…
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Madam Speaker, the budget implementation act would allow us to put into action budget 2025, which is a budget built for the moment in which we find ourselves. Much has been said about this moment, but it is worth recapping. Our largest trade partner and the world's largest economy has turned its back on free trade; global conflicts are on the rise, and, of course, the world is now dealing with the…
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Madam Speaker, it is an excellent point. The reality is that finance is much more nuanced than that. Conversations about the size of a spend entirely miss the point if we are not talking about what is being spent. In the case of the CPP, which is the example that was put in front of me, it is not even a government investment; it is an investment made on behalf of all Canadians in their future. It …
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Madam Speaker, of course, the situation the forestry sector faces is absolutely untenable and unjustified, and it is based on long-standing trade disputes with the United States. Budget 2025 offers a number of supports for the forestry sector, including a new biomass ITC that would now be retroactive to 2023, which would allow investments in plants that use residuals, making sawmills more economic…
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Madam Speaker, it is true that pipelines are the safest, most environmentally responsible way to move oil products, and they are also the cheapest way. There are a lot of benefits to them. Of course, if we are going to continue to build oil infrastructure, we need to do it in a way that is still consistent with our goals to be net zero in 2050, which is exactly what the Prime Minister has said. He…
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, forestry is core to our Canadian identity and the backbone of communities across Canada. This vital sector provides good jobs, drives local economies and keeps our towns and cities growing. Recently, during National Forest Week, the Forest Products Association of Canada held its annual national forest policy conference here in Ottawa. This conference brought together leaders in forest…
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Madam Speaker, we keep hearing about the Conservatives' deep concern for youth, but they continue to vote against any project or program that would support the youth of this country. They vote against it all. I would like, for once, to hear exactly what they would reduce in order to meet their absurd budget demands. Let us have a good budget and an affordable budget on November 4, and let us have …
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Madam Speaker, the forest sector is core to our economy and core to our Canadian identity. My own family has been in the forest industry since long before Canada was a country. We will always stand with forest workers, and my heart goes out to the affected. U.S. tariffs and duties are completely unjustified. We know that. We are working at all levels to address it. In the meantime, we are also div…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians are rightly focused on the real issues. We face a dangerous and changing world, one that demands big responses. We are going to see big responses in the November 4 budget. We have already heard about many of the initiatives that are coming out of it. I hope the members opposite will support the budget, avoid a Christmas election and help Canada lead in the G7.
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Madam Speaker, we have a generational budget coming on November 4. It is going to build on the successes of the past couple of months, successes that include, today, announcing billions in new investments in critical minerals and 20 deals with countries across the world. This is just going to build on that. This budget is exactly what is needed in this moment. I hope the Conservatives support it a…
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Mr. Speaker, we stand with affected communities and affected workers, and we have announced a number of supports: $50 million for workers; $700 million in liquidity supports, which are accessible through the banks that the mills are using right now; and $500 million of innovation to come. We know that this has been a very disruptive situation. This is a long-standing challenge with the United Stat…
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Mr. Speaker, we stand with B.C. communities. FPAC officials were in town this week with many industry leaders and many other governments. We meet with them, and we talked about what we could do in order to support them. I continue to work with the sector to make sure we are providing supports that are meeting the moment. I welcome the member opposite to provide those supports.
Read full speech →Statements by Members
Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, Kiwetinohk Energy, headquartered in Calgary, achieved a significant energy industry milestone with a new Canadian longest well record of almost 9,500 meters. That is almost 10 kilometres, and yes, members heard that right. The distance of 10 kilometres is the distance from the University of Calgary to the Glenmore Reservoir, the distance from Parliament Hill to the …
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Mr. Speaker, the Canadian government is right there with Canadian workers and affected Canadian communities. We have announced $50 million in supports for workers, $700 million in liquidity support and $500 million to innovate both products and markets. We are more than happy to work with the members opposite if they have ideas to continue to support the forestry sector, but we have not heard any.
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Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister is going across the world finding new trade deals and new markets for Canadian products, including forestry products. This is part of a diversification effort backed by $500 million that is going to support new markets and new innovations. We have supports for workers of $50 million, we have liquidity supports of $700 million, and we want to work with people to find…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada does write its own story, and that is a story that includes buying Canadian and buying Canadian lumber to build Canadian homes. It is a story that includes $50 million in income supports for workers. It is a story that includes $700 million in liquidity support and $500 million for innovation in the forestry sector. This is a pretty good story, and I hope they will help us writ…
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Mr. Speaker, we will always stand with the workers and the affected communities, which is why we continue to invest and will do so in the future as well. There are significant difficulties with the long-standing softwood lumber dispute, but those are difficulties we are addressing head on. We are working at every level to challenge them. We are doing that with the support of the whole Canadian eco…
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Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear that the tariffs are unjustified. We are working at every level to address them. We have created $50 million in supports for workers. We have created $700 million in liquidity support for companies and $500 million for new markets and new innovations in this sector. We are going to continue to work to support the forestry sector, and we hope that the Conservati…
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Mr. Speaker, it does not feel very resolved. This is a long-standing challenge, but it is one that this government is going to be working to resolve by making significant investments in the future in the forestry sector, as well as by supporting the workers right now while we work toward a deal. Buy Canadian and Canadian procurement are significant parts of this component, which is why it is so im…
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Mr. Speaker, globally, in the last 10 years, oil and gas production has increased by 6%. In Canada, it has increased by 34%. At the same time, we have reduced our emissions by 15%. The policies that the member opposite references have allowed our product to be competitive on the global market and open up new markets. This is how we make ourselves an energy superpower in both the conventional and r…
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Mr. Speaker, we will always stand with communities and workers in the softwood lumber industry and across the forestry sector more broadly. We have made significant investments, including $700 million in loan supports and $500 million to diversify the sector to ensure that there are jobs not just today, but in the future, and we are entirely seized with this issue.
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Mr. Speaker, we stand with the workers in rural communities. Forestry is the heartbeat of Canadian rural life. It provides the roads, jobs and community spirit, and we are there with investments to protect workers who have lost their jobs, as well as with investments going forward. The government is also looking to use more Canadian lumber in more Canadian products, which is part of our build Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, we stand with the workers who are affected by these tariffs, which is why we are providing the supports we are providing. We are working at every level to resolve this dispute with our American friends, and we are making investments to support those communities and diversify markets going forward.
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Mr. Speaker, we should look at the comments from the Premier of Alberta. We should look at the comments from the Premier of Ontario. What we are seeing is a number of Conservative premiers who are very excited about our goals to make Canada an energy superpower, in both conventional and renewable energy. Regarding the workers at Imperial, my heart goes out to them. The reality of the situation is …
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Mr. Speaker, we have been clear that U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber are absolutely unjustified, and we are working at every level to resolve the softwood lumber dispute. To date, we have announced more than $50 million in income supports for more workers, $700 million in loan guarantees and $500 million in capital investments to make the industry more competitive and to retool it for the…
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Mr. Speaker, we will always be there for forest workers. That is why we have invested so heavily in them and will continue to do so. This trade war came to our shores, but we are going to finish it by being strong supporters of industry, being strong supporters of Canadian workers and making sure we get the job done.
Read full speech →Adjournment Proceedings
Madam Speaker, I will have to leave to my colleagues in industry and internal trade the specifics of the hon. member's question, but I note that my comments were about getting pipelines to tidewater and pipelines to new markets. Certainly, there were no pipelines of that nature made during that time. There are many examples, though, of how innovation and investment are coming back to Canada as a r…
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Madam Speaker, yes, we will be looking to use more Canadian steel and more Canadian materials in general as the Minister of Industry has said. Yes, the government will support pipelines that are in the national interest and meet environmental and social standards, as well as those that meet the bedrock requirement for meaningful indigenous engagement. ln fact, Ksi Lisims LNG, recently approved, wi…
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Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) and consistent with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Poland on the Protection of Classified Information”, done at Warsaw on January 16, 2025, and the treaty entitled “Agreement…
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Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to have the opportunity to talk about northern gateway, which I noted came up in the opposition House leader's remarks. The fact of the matter is that that was a project that was rejected by the courts for failing to meet environmental and consultation standards. As a result, that pipeline was declined.
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite underestimates the ingenuity of our oil and gas sector. Certainly, we have seen that it has done an exceptionally good job of reducing emissions intensity over the years. That said, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and I think this is a pragmatic government that is keen to talk to partners about how we can best meet our global climate ambitions while still…
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Madam Speaker, there is not a major pipeline project in the last 15 years in which I was not involved in some way, shape or form. While these seem like easy, quick solutions, “just make it easier to build things,” what we know in Canadian history is quite different. It actually makes it more difficult and puts these projects at risk. We find all of a sudden that the courts are weighing in and sayi…
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Madam Speaker, Canadians have always come together to seize new opportunities and set paths for future generations, and in this moment of challenge, we will see the same. Canadians can find consensus even when it seemed previously unattainable. Our government has said repeatedly that it is prepared to work towards building new energy infrastructure in many forms. That includes interprovincial elec…
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Mr. Speaker, I completely agree that the world is changing, markets are changing and climate action is essential. This is a big, multi-year change and it sets our goals. However, we are in the middle of a shock change with this trade war and more erratic world, and that does have to set our strategies and tactics. I believe we share the same environmental goals. I truly do. I am wondering if the m…
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Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my remarks, oil and gas production in Canada is up 34% in the last 10 years. As well, emissions went down 6.5%. Therefore, we have found that it is possible to decouple these two. To create a conversation as though there is a conflict inherent in these is not accurate. Certainly, we can all agree that we are in a very different world and a very different situation th…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. Once again, the Conservatives have brought forward a motion designed not to help Canadians but to divide them. Today's motion proposing an end to the oil and gas emissions cap, a regulation that has not even been finalized, is an example of this. I would like to be crystal clear as we begin debate on this motion: The …
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