Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, I was actually just in Manitoba last week, where we were announcing supports for Canadian families with more investment in creating more child care spaces to relieve the burden for families. These are programs that we continue to invest in, such as the Canada child benefit, dental plan and investments in Canadians, while we see the Conservatives continue to vote against them.
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Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be part of a government that believes that every child should have access to food while at school. That is why we announced our national school food program, ensuring that an additional 400,000 kids have access to food while at school. I do not understand why the Conservatives would oppose such a measure. How would this be controversial, getting food into children's…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her continued advocacy on behalf of early learning child care workers. Our government continues to work with the provinces and territories, as evidenced most recently in our budget announcement, which includes loan forgiveness for early childhood educators who choose to work in rural and remote communities where we see the need for more educators and more chil…
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Mr. Speaker, the moms and dads across this country whom we have been helping, I worry for them. The Leader of the Opposition has been very clear and his actions are all we need to know, all we need to point to. We point to the Conservatives' opposition of a motion and a vote to support a national school food program. We can point to their opposition of a vote to expand funding for more child care …
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Mr. Speaker, actions speak more than words. Our actions on this side of the House—
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, actions speak louder than words. On this side of the House, our actions include over 750,000 families who benefit from affordable child care spaces with over 100,000 new spaces across the country, seven million children whose parents benefit from the Canada child benefit and a national school food policy. Their actions are to vote against funding to increase the number of s…
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Mr. Speaker, do members know what helps moms and dads across this country afford a home? It is being able to have access to $10-a-day child care and get back into the workforce. We are seeing record numbers of women, of moms, getting back into the workforce, giving them the opportunity to contribute to their family finances and afford a safe place to live. In contrast to the Conservatives' continu…
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Mr. Speaker, it is quite the contrary. I have had the opportunity to speak with many moms and dads across this country about the programs that we have been putting in place to support them. I recently spoke to Chris, who lives in Peterborough. She is a Trent University student. She shared the impact of our waiving of the interest on student loans. She shared the impact of being able to access $10-…
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Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues, fellow moms and dads, on this side of the House agree that no child should go to school hungry. That is why we announced, just last week, a $1-billion investment through budget 2024 for a national school food program. The program would ensure that children who arrive at school hungry have access to food, ensuring an additional 400,000 kids will be able to access …
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Mr. Speaker, it was wonderful to be in the Northwest Territories with my colleague. I met with Jude from the Yellowknife Day Care Association, Jennifer at Aurora College and many others who were able to share with me first-hand the impact of our Canada-wide system on making life more affordable. As of April 1, families in the Northwest Territories will see their child care fees reduced to an avera…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. This bill is very important for every family and every child across the country. We are doing critical work here, and this is really important to families and children across the country. As I mentioned earlier, this law was studied at length here at committee and also in the other place in its committees. There have been many days …
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. This is not just good social policy; it is incredible economic policy. We have seen, to date, the impact of that. We can look back, even to when Quebec first introduced this in 1997. We saw the impact, in that province alone, of women's participation in the workforce. We know now, here, across the country, that we are seeing an increase of participati…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. Truly, this is really about moving forward this important legislation for families and children across the country, as I have already said. It is worth pointing out that as we have entered into agreements with the provinces and territories and we work with our partners, including our indigenous partners, they are waiting with bated …
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Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about here in the House is the importance of enshrining in law a national early learning and child care system. We cannot overstate how important this work is that we are doing here today and what this means, not only for today's parents and today's kids but for families for generations to come. As my colleague has pointed out, unfortunately we have not seen the su…
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Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to speak to that question here today. Obviously, Bill C-35 is a bill that is critically important to families, to children and to our partners, our provincial, territorial and indigenous partners across this country. The bill has been thoroughly studied, both at the House committee and at the Senate committee. I would add that there have been numerous days of debate he…
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Mr. Speaker, as we entered into agreements, and as we worked to build this nationwide system, it was incredibly important that we took a rights-based approach and that we worked alongside indigenous partners across the country, along with our provincial and territorial counterparts. I can tell members that, on the ground, it is really translating. I had the opportunity, just last week, to be in th…
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Mr. Speaker, let us be clear. Today we are passing into legislation the early learning and child care act, and it is a framework based on the principles of high-quality, inclusive, accessible and affordable child care. My colleague is referring to the mechanics of our agreements with the provinces and territories through which funding flows. We have made a $30-billion investment with the provinces…
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Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I have had some great discussions about this bill over the last number of months. I appreciate her commitment to the workforce, and we are also very committed to the early childhood educator workforce. In saying that, we are working with the provinces and territories at our federal-provincial-territorial table to bring forward a workforce strategy to better support th…
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Mr. Speaker, undoubtedly, this government has done more for families and women than any other government in history, and I am incredibly proud to be part of that government and that work. This legislation, Bill C-35, is, rightly put, just one piece of the hard work we have done to support women and families. I look to the Canada child benefit, a program that families can rely on each and every mon…
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Mr. Speaker, I am really glad to sit on this side of the House, where we invest in families and continue to do the hard work. We recognize that, from day one, it is not going to be perfect and not everyone is going to access it, but that does not mean we would abandon it. It does not mean we would stop. It means we would work harder. This is important work. With rose-coloured glasses, I hope the m…
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Mr. Speaker, quite the contrary to what has been presented by the member opposite, women across this country are rejoining the workforce and are benefiting from this national early learning and child care program. As was mentioned, we entered into historic agreements, with almost $40 billion of investments made across this country, with the provinces, territories and indigenous partners. There is …
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Madam Speaker, as we moved forward in building this nationwide system, undoubtedly every province and territory came to the table and recognized our core vision and principles around inclusivity and access to high-quality and affordable child care. As we move forward and as we are now about two years into our commitments with most of the provinces and territories, we see new spots being created ac…
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to work with the hon. member as well. As we were negotiating across the country, we worked very well with indigenous governments and indigenous partners. We have been really focused on ensuring that early learning and child care is provided that is culturally appropriate and led by indigenous leaders. That is continuing to roll out across the country, and I b…
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned, I am honoured today to rise to speak to Bill C-35 as amended by our hon. colleagues in the other House. First, I would like to acknowledge the important work and the recommendations from the Senate as we look for ways to always improve on our policies and legislation to better the lives of families in Canada, and in this case, on such an important piece of legislatio…
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moved that the second reading of, and concurrence in, the amendment made by the Senate to Bill C-35, An Act respecting early learning and child care in Canada. Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Sherbrooke. I am honoured to rise today to speak to Bill C-35 as amended by our hon. colleagues in the other House—
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Madam Speaker, absolutely. Of course, as we have negotiated the agreements with the provinces and territories, there have been many conversations about the future of early learning and child care across the country and in Quebec. If I may say so, Quebec has been held up, frankly, as a model and has done incredible work, decades ahead of the rest of Canada. We see that. We have seen the impact of t…
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Mr. Speaker, the Canada-wide system is making life more affordable for Canadian families by delivering on $10-a-day child care, now in seven provinces or territories, and 50% reduction across the country. As fees have reduced, of course, demand has increased for these spots. We have seen an increase in the number of spots available, with 82,000 new spaces announced by the provinces and territories…
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Mr. Speaker, child care is good for our kids, it is good for families and it is good for our economy. Islanders have already been benefiting and seeing the savings. As of January 1, they have $10-a-day child care, as do six other provinces and territories across this country. At a time when families are feeling the pressure, $4,200 in savings a year is outstanding. Instead of preying on Canadians'…
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Mr. Speaker, our national child care program is making life more affordable for thousands of Canadian families, as is the Canada child benefit. We continue to work with the provinces and territories to ensure that the five-year agreements are upheld and that we do see improvements to wages and benefits for the essential caregivers who we all rely on for the child care that our kids need. On this s…
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Mr. Speaker, if the Conservatives actually do care about supporting families, their actions last week speak differently, and actions speak louder than words. The Conservatives voted against much-needed investments to increase access to child care in underserved communities. They voted against moving forward with a framework to create a national school food policy, which would put food back into sc…
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Mr. Speaker, in a shocking turn of events, just last week, the Conservative Party held hostage the progress and investments that we continue to make in Canadians. When given the chance to support increasing the number of child care spaces in rural and underserved communities, what did the Conservatives do? They voted against. What does this mean? This means not supporting new and much-needed child…
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Mr. Speaker, when the member opposite talks about basics, I would like to point out the basic fact that, just yesterday, every member in the House, including every Conservative member, had the opportunity to support Canadian families and children by voting to support a national school food program. What did they do? Every single one of them voted against it. On this side of the House, we will cont…
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Mr. Speaker, while the Conservatives continue to do all they can to paralyze government, we are here to work on behalf of Canadians and are happy to do so. We will continue to make the necessary investments in our social programs, in the Canada child benefit and in our $10-a-day national early learning and child care program. These programs are transformational for Canadian families, saving them h…
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Mr. Speaker, every day that I come into the House and take my seat, I am humbled, as I know all of my colleagues on this side of the House are, to work on behalf of Canadians. We talk about the need to support Canadians, but just yesterday, every Conservative on that side of the House voted against a national school food policy, a policy that would have given food to children so they would not be …
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Mr. Speaker, we will continue to invest in strengthening social security programs like old age security, the Canada pension plan and support for families, like the Canada child benefit and $10-a-day national child care, programs that the Conservatives continue to vote against, totally lacking empathy and understanding for the struggles that Canadian families are facing. On this side of the House, …
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Mr. Speaker, we know that many families are struggling to afford groceries. We are there to support Canadians through targeted social programs and income supplements, such as the Canada child benefit and the grocery rebate. We are also providing subsidies and support to food banks and charitable organizations. We will continue to fight against food insecurity.
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Mr. Speaker, in addition to the support that we do for families, which I continue to share in this House, we have also introduced programs to support organizations that are working with Canadians to help address food insecurity, including over 300 organizations through the community services recovery fund. We have also invested almost $150 million to strengthen food systems and improve food securi…
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague. We know that, right now, many Canadians are having a hard time putting food on the table. That is exactly why we continue to do the hard work on this side of the House to support Canadian families and organizations doing that work. Whether that is from the community services recovery fund or whether that is the work that we are doing to dev…
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Mr. Speaker, the member opposite mentioned families. Everything we do, at the heart of our actions on this side of the House, is focused on ensuring we are there for families. I look to building a national early learning and child care system as just one way we are looking to support families. Introducing affordable, high-quality and accessible child care across this country saves families hundred…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that kids learn better on a full stomach, and this remains our goal. The work under way on a national school food policy is critical to achieving that. We continue to work with our partners, the provinces, territories, indigenous partners, stakeholders and children to inform the path forward on this. As mentioned, I look forward to the release of the “as we heard it” report, t…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that, right now, many Canadians are having a hard time putting food on the table. We are working with provinces, territories, municipalities, indigenous partners and others to develop a national school food policy and support the creation of a national school food program. We are planning this policy to reflect regional and local needs, because we know that existing meal progr…
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Mr. Speaker, through the community services recovery fund, nearly 5,500 organizations nationwide have been funded. In the member's riding of St. John's East, that means groups like the Association For New Canadians are now better able to support newcomers. The Food Producers Forum, Bell Island Community Food Bank and the Newfoundland and Labrador Food Umbrella can continue feeding their community.…
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Mr. Speaker, once again, on this side of the House we recognize that many Canadian families are facing challenges. Just last week, I had the opportunity to visit Eden Food for Change in the riding of Mississauga—Erin Mills, and that organization helps to feed individuals each and every day. Through the community services recovery fund, we have put $400 million into community organizations to help …
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Mr. Speaker, we know that right now many Canadian families are struggling with increased costs. Last night I was speaking with Fay, who shared with me that he came to Canada with his family five years ago from Syria. He shared the impact that the Canada child benefit had on his family. It enabled them to ensure that they could buy food and the things that their children needed. This is one story o…
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Mr. Speaker, we know that Canadian families are struggling to afford groceries, and we will continue to support families with programs such as the Canada child benefit. We have also made funding available to food banks and charities across this country, including through the $400 million invested in the community services recovery program. We will continue to address food insecurity across the cou…
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moved that the bill, as amended, be concurred in.
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moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to press pause on the rhetoric here and focus on what is important, and that is Canadian families. On this side of the House, we worry about Canadian families and are here for Canadian families, helping them balance their budgets, particularly in tough economic times. How do we do this? We have reached 3.5 million Canadian families and over six million children with the C…
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Mr. Speaker, I have great news. Today, 3.5 million Canadians and over six million children will receive the Canada child benefit. I know that raising children is expensive, especially now, when the cost of necessities is high. Since 2016, this benefit has lifted hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. This is just one more way that the government is supporting Canadian families.
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Mr. Speaker, it terrifies me to think of the reckless cuts that the Conservatives would make on the backs of Canadians. We have supported families with our national $10-a-day early learning and child care program, saving families hundreds of dollars, as well as the Canada child benefit. The best part is this: empowering parents by empowering mums and dads to get back into the workforce, giving the…
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