Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada is focusing on what we can control: building here at home, working with allies and buying what is needed. Canada's new defence industrial strategy consists of a $500-billion investment in Canadian industry, security and prosperity. This is just as much an employment strategy as it is a defence strategy. It represents 125,000 new careers and strengthened supply…
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Mr. Speaker, we are obviously very pleased with our colleague's offer to work with the government to improve Canada's economy, to ensure that we are a country that attracts historic investments from abroad and from within Canada in order to build a stronger, more resilient economy and to create jobs in all trades across Canada. I look forward to working with our hon. colleague and urge him to supp…
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Mr. Speaker, as our colleague correctly pointed out, the government is committed to expanding its partnerships around the world, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region. Canada and Taiwan enjoy strong economic ties and a close relationship. While remaining consistent with our long-standing one China policy, we will continue to advance Canada's interests by diversifying our trade and strengthening …
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Mr. Speaker, perhaps I will be allowed to add my voice to other colleagues and say how happy I am to see former prime minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa today. I had the privilege of serving in the House when Mr. Harper was Prime Minister of Canada for nine years, and it is a privilege to see him in good health and smiling in Ottawa today. With respect to supporting the auto industry, I also rememb…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague knows very well that the government was elected to build a Canadian economy that is more resilient, and the government was elected to get major projects done. That is exactly what the Prime Minister and my colleagues have done. Maybe the member missed the announcement with the Premier of Ontario on important investments, for example, in nuclear energy in Darlington. Perh…
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad our colleague referenced the important report from the International Monetary Fund, which confirms exactly what the Prime Minister and the government have been saying for many months: Working with provinces to remove interprovincial trade barriers is one of the most significant things we can do to grow the Canadian economy, so I want to thank the Conservatives for having sup…
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Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by wishing colleagues a happy new year, particularly our friend from Manitoba who just asked the question. I want to thank the Conservative Party for its support last June in passing federal legislation in the House that did exactly that. It eliminated all federal barriers to interprovincial trade. Now the challenge is to work with our partners in the provinces. The go…
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Mr. Speaker, again, on this side of the House, I remember being an opposition member of Parliament. I was very impressed with some of the quality people from Bay Street whom then prime minister Harper recruited to serve as chief of staff in his office, for example. It was not a scandal then that people with business experience could serve in the government. We are proud that this government and th…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we want to thank our friend for his excellent conspiracy theory work. We think only the Conservatives would be shocked that quality women and men with experience in the private sector would step forward to work with a government that is going to build Canada strong and get major projects done. We are proud of the people who want to come forward and serve Cana…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague is lucky. After four tries, his question was deemed in order. However, he is having some difficulty with the facts. He talks about people who are not in government and public policies that are not government policies. He knows full well that our government supports supply management and that we will not negotiate this issue with the Americans under any circumstances. Des…
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Mr. Speaker, allow me to echo my colleague in thanking Ms. Hillman for her service to Canada. I had the privilege of working very closely with Kristen over the past few months. I am very grateful for her friendship and for what she has done for Canada. I understand that the Leader of the Opposition is trying to extrapolate a series of things that are not true. He knows full well that the policies …
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Mr. Speaker, as fond as I am of my colleague from Quebec, I see that he is asking the same question his leader asked a few moments ago with a view to getting a sound bite played on Le Téléjournal this evening at 6 p.m. or later with Ms. Galipeau. He knows full well that the public policies he is referring to have never been public policies of the Liberal government and will never be public policie…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, our colleague from Quebec is giving me an opportunity to brief him. Just yesterday evening, I participated in an activity put on by the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec. I had the opportunity to speak with the vice-president of the Producteurs de lait du Québec, and we obviously talked about supply management. Yesterday evening, in Montreal, I was able to reas…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that Canadians did not trust his judgment when it came to standing up to President Trump and not signing an agreement that was in the interests of the United States. What did we do? We worked with the United States to find an agreement that will be in the interests of Canadian industries and workers. At the same time, we are taking more mea…
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Mr. Speaker, I know it is an inconvenient truth for the Leader of the Opposition that Canada, right now today, has the best deal of any trading partner of the United States, but do members know what? It is not good enough for Canadian workers and it is not good enough for Canadian businesses. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who would have signed any bad deal put in front of him, the Prime Min…
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Mr. Speaker, we want to thank our colleague in the Conservative Party for that manufactured indignation. We want to remind him and his colleagues in the Conservative Party that our government made a commitment to Canadians in the last election. It was an election campaign that perhaps they would prefer to forget. We made a commitment to build the Canadian economy the right way and to build major p…
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Mr. Speaker, as we said yesterday, just because our colleagues keeps repeating the same inaccurate phrase, that does not make it real. The Prime Minister has said that our government will always stand up for workers in the auto sector, in the steel sector, in the aluminum sector and in the forestry sector. Unlike the Conservatives, our government is not going to sign just any old deal. We are goin…
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Mr. Speaker, again, our colleagues keep repeating phrases that they know are not accurate. What is accurate is that our government has always supported the hard-working women and men who work in our steel sector in every corner of the country. We have put in place unprecedented support measures. We are prepared to continue to do more. The Prime Minister met with industry leaders in this sector las…
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Mr. Speaker, it might be useful to remind our colleague from New Brunswick that the government had been engaged in constructive and extensive negotiations with the American administration and that we were pursuing a deal we believed would be in the interests of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy, and the Americans as well. President Trump decided to suspend those negotiations, and while he …
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Mr. Speaker, again, our colleague knows full well that the government is very interested in taking every measure step to protect the aluminum industry, the workers in that industry and the other industries that were just mentioned. He knows full well that President Trump is the one who decided to suspend the negotiations that, to us and to the American side, were on track to bringing Canada and th…
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Mr. Speaker, the government is actively involved with the sectors of the economy that are facing the most pressure from the unjustified 232 tariffs. This includes, obviously, auto workers. It includes workers in the steel and aluminum industries and in the softwood lumber industry. We have already taken steps to support those workers and those businesses. My colleague should be excited that there …
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Mr. Speaker, just because the Leader of the Opposition keeps repeating the same line over and over again, that does not make it real. The Leader of the Opposition knows very well that our government was elected to defend Canadian workers and the Canadian economy. That is exactly what we did in the budget that was tabled in the House of Commons. The opposition decided not to support Canadian worker…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague knows very well that the government was elected with a mandate to diversify our trade with other countries around the world. This is an ambitious agenda that Canadians supported in the last election. Perhaps my colleague was a bit confused. Generally, that starts with the head of government taking a trip, to the United Arab Emirates for example. The good news is that we …
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Mr. Speaker, like his colleague from Fundy Royal, the member would remember very well the time he served in Prime Minister Harper's office. They were overrun with credit card spending and government cutbacks. The Conservatives pretend to be interested in things now, like the fight against crime, but they were cutting CBSA officers and underfunding the RCMP. What did they do yesterday? They voted a…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank our colleague from Bourassa for his question. We are living in a time of transformation. We are laying the groundwork for some of the most significant investments made in Canada since the Second World War. Canadians elected an ambitious government, a government that would take action to build a strong and resilient economy. In just a few moments, the House of Commons will be h…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said a moment ago, our government is committed to working with all partners in our federation, to working with premiers in every part of the country, to working with union leaders and business leaders to support the Canadian economy and Canadian workers, and to negotiating with the Americans for a deal that is in the interests of Canada. That has been the government's position fr…
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Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to doing the serious work necessary to get a deal with the United States and to build a strong, resilient Canadian economy. This was the commitment we made to Canadians in the election. This was an election the Leader of the Opposition lost because people did not believe he would be serious in either supporting Canadian workers and Canadian businesses or st…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition knows full well that the government will not accept just any deal. We have been clear that we will negotiate an agreement with the U.S. government that is in the interests of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy. Canadians know very well that the Leader of the Opposition would have accepted any old deal. That is not Canada's position. We are going to …
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Mr. Speaker, I can imagine the frustration the Leader of the Opposition feels when he sees a Prime Minister elected to take this serious economic and sovereignty challenge with all of the seriousness it deserves. This is why Canadians thought the Leader of the Opposition was not up to that task. This is why Canadians chose a Prime Minister who takes serious issues seriously, who will defend Canadi…
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Mr. Speaker, I will repeat the answer I just gave to the Leader of the Opposition in French because he asked the same question in English. Our government was elected to negotiate an agreement with the United States that is in the interests of Canadian workers and Canadian industries. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, we are not going to sign whatever agreement the Americans might suggest. We ar…
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Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Bloc Québécois knows full well that our government always collaborates with our provincial and territorial counterparts, with business leaders and with workers' representatives. The good news is that I will be in Montreal on Thursday morning to meet with Minister Fréchette. We will talk specifically about what more we can do together to support Quebec industries and …
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Mr. Speaker, just because the Leader of the Opposition keeps asserting the same fake premise, it does not make it real. What is real is that the Government of Canada can control certain things. We can control the investments we make in partnership with Canadian businesses and Canadian workers to build a strong economy here. We can work with provinces and territories, as we are proud to do, to defe…
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Mr. Speaker, again, I can understand the Leader of the Opposition may be frustrated for a whole series of reasons. He has a caucus meeting coming up this week. He may be very concerned about that as well. What I can tell the Leader of the Opposition, and all colleagues in the House, is that the Prime Minister is committed to doing the difficult, serious work necessary to build the strongest econom…
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Mr. Speaker, what are we going to say to investors who see Canada's economy in a positive light? What are we going to say to Canadian workers who are obviously worried about the tariffs? We are going to tell them that the government is here to support them, that we have a series of measures for investing in major projects in Canada. We are going to tell them that we support the industries being im…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague knows full well that our government is always ready to sit down and work with the American government, with the secretaries in Mr. Trump's administration, to negotiate an agreement that serves the interests of Canadian industries and Canadian workers. We are always available. The Prime Minister has repeated this. In the meantime, we are not going to wait around for that …
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Mr. Speaker, of course, our government remains fully prepared to resume discussions with the U.S. government. However, our colleague alluded to certain potential tariff increases. We have to be careful and wait for the official executive order from the U.S. government before concluding that certain percentages will be applied. However, we fully share his concern about the future of forestry worker…
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Mr. Speaker, I am not surprised that our colleague remembers the last federal election so clearly. Canadians chose a government that was prepared not only to defend and support Canadian industries, but also to negotiate with the U.S. government to reach a deal that is in the best interests of Canadian workers and industries. Canadians had their say in the last election. They knew full well that th…
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Mr. Speaker, our government has no difficulty looking at the hard-working women and men who work in our auto industry and in industries across the country to say that we are fighting for their jobs, we are standing up to the Americans against unjustified tariffs and we are negotiating what we think will be agreements that will be in the best interests of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy. …
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague knows very well that we are working to support auto workers and the sector in Canada. There is over 100 years of proud history of making vehicles in Canada. It is a manufacturing sector that is important to every part of the country. That is why we are not only taking measures with the Government of Ontario, partners across the country and unions to support the industry …
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague referred to apologies. Perhaps he would like to lean forward a couple of rows and suggest to his boss, the Leader of the Opposition, that he should apologize to the men and women who serve in Canada's RCMP for attacking their integrity and attacking the work they do to protect all Canadians. He should be ashamed of himself. He pretends to stand up for the police. He atta…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague has heard very well that the government will make these contracts available to the opposition. He can assert a series of fabricated conspiracy theories, but it does not make them true. What is true is that our government is supporting a proud tradition of building vehicles and cars in Canada. There is over 100 years of Canadian workers building these cars. We are going t…
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Mr. Speaker, we understand that our Conservative colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not like to work with Premier Ford and his government. On this side of the House, we will work with all premiers of every political stripe, and groups representing workers and businesses, precisely to defend those businesses from the unjustified tariffs imposed by the American administration. We will do t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition had 45 minutes to think about whether he will apologize to the brave men and women of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who work to defend Canadians every single day. His attack on the integrity of the national police is totally inexcusable. Why does the Leader of the Opposition, who claims to support the police, not take a minute to apologize to the women…
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Mr. Speaker, just because our colleague, with great indignation, asserts a series of conspiracy theories does not mean they are true. What is true is that our government is standing up for Canadian workers and Canadian businesses. The Prime Minister met with President Trump in Washington two weeks ago. We have engaged in a series of conversations and negotiations precisely to get a deal that is in…
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Mr. Speaker, our colleague knows very well, as my colleague, the Minister of Industry has indicated, that of course, all the information will be put before the parliamentary committee appropriately. Just because our colleagues on the other side assert some falsehood with great indignation does not make it accurate. What is accurate is that our government is standing up with the province of Ontario…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said in an answer a few moments ago, the Prime Minister will be travelling to Washington later today for a working session in the Oval Office at the invitation of the U.S. President. Obviously, we intend to discuss the issues just raised by our Bloc Québécois colleague. We are deeply concerned about the tariffs on the softwood lumber industry. We discussed other sectors, like ste…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is currently in the best position of any major trading ally of the United States, but we have said consistently that we have work to do with our American partners on sectoral tariffs. We have work to do in building an economy in North America that is in the interests of Canadian businesses and Canadian workers. That is exactly the conversation the Prime Minister will have with …
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, we remember the Conservatives standing up in the House with manufactured indignation that the Prime Minister should be talking to the president every day and the Prime Minister should be in Washington, asking why has he not been in Washington. The good news is that the Prime Minister and the president speak frequently. They are in touch on a whole series of internat…
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Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is right. At the invitation of the U.S. President, the Prime Minister will be going to Washington tomorrow to continue the important discussion on the trade relationship, how to protect jobs and industries in Canada and how to build an economy in North America that is in the interests of both countries. Other international issues will also be discussed. I …
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Mr. Speaker, I remember the Leader of the Opposition and some of his colleagues criticizing the government for not having enough direct, face-to-face engagement with the President of the United States. Good news is that the president has invited the Prime Minister to a working meeting tomorrow in Washington, followed by a working lunch. Obviously the conversation will centre on trade issues and wh…
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