Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, a year ago, Canadians had the opportunity to decide. It was a decision that was made based on how the economy was doing. People were genuinely concerned about Trump, tariffs and trade. They were concerned about the economy and affordability. They looked at the leader of the Conservative Party and contrasted him with the leader of the Liberal Party, who had been appointed as the Govern…
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Mr. Speaker, I am wondering if my colleague could provide his thoughts in regard to just how important this is in recognizing that we want to build a strong, healthy economy. We have set the goal of being the strongest in the G7. That is the goal. Part of that is recognizing that whether it is looking for trade opportunities or attracting investment into Canada or the Canada Strong fund or the sov…
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Mr. Speaker, arguably, the unholy alliance is alive and well, as the Bloc and the Conservatives have united once again in order to oppose a good idea. A Canada Strong fund is there to support, in a very real and tangible way, the potential development of major projects. These projects would deliver thousands of jobs and increase Canada's GDP. I guess that is all bad news for the Conservatives and …
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Mr. Speaker, it is somewhat disappointing that we have the Conservative and the Bloc members united in believing that this is something the country does not need. In fact, if one was to be a bit of a visionary and demonstrate some true leadership, they would understand and appreciate the actual value of having a sovereign wealth fund. There is a significant difference between what is being put on …
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Mr. Speaker, I would suggest it is the opposite. It is not the government that is tone-deaf; it is the leader of the Conservative Party and the collective team of Conservative members of Parliament who want to stand by and do nothing or, as they say, get out of the way. Let us contrast that to a government that has been very proactive in increasing exports, bringing in trade, bringing in investmen…
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that just a year ago, Canadians chose a new government, a new Prime Minister and a direction I thought was fairly clear. Like other members, I knocked on thousands of doors during the last election. I have a fairly good sense of what the expectations of Canadians are. I have a fairly good understanding of why Canadians made the decision they made. About 8.5 million C…
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Mr. Speaker, they ask, “What is built?” Well, when the leader of the Conservative Party was in government for over 10 years, the Conservatives did not build one inch of pipeline to the coastline. I will contrast that with what the current Prime Minister has done in one year for the advancement of—
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He says I am confused, Mr. Speaker. There is a difference between west and east versus north and south. The point is that there are major projects. The Conservative Party takes one approach, and that approach is just to get out of the way. As a government, we recognize the value of being involved by having things like a sovereign wealth fund, which will make a difference, and by having things such…
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Mr. Speaker, this is all good stuff, and if the Conservatives did their homework, they would know it. The problem is that all they do is rely too much on their backroom, the spin and ChatGPT. That is what they rely on in terms of delivering their comments on the floor of the House of Commons. The other side has to calm down over there. The bottom line is that when we see something good come to the…
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Mr. Speaker, the nice thing about Hansard is that all we have to do is look at what I said. The member just reinforced that. The pipeline the member is talking about does not go to tidewater, and that is what I said. Not one inch of it goes to tidewater. Let us contrast that to TMX. That goes to tidewater. That was not Conservative. It was Liberal. The biggest private-public investment was in LNG …
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Mr. Speaker, that is just false, and the member knows what he just said is false. The major projects include the expansion of the port of Montreal. I will give the member a tip. Montreal is in Quebec. At the end of the day, there are major projects in all areas of Canada. The office has to be located somewhere. I am very proud of the fact that it happens to be in Alberta. Having said that, let us …
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Mr. Speaker, I have full confidence in the Major Projects Office being able to make recommendations and decisions on projects. The sovereign wealth fund has potential. The member referred to pipelines. It goes far beyond those types of projects. I am hopeful that we will see funds ultimately flow to all the different regions of the country, recognizing that all regions have a great deal to contrib…
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Mr. Speaker, many years ago, I took a course dealing with stats and how stats could ultimately be twisted and so forth. The bottom line is, I believe if we do a relative comparison between Canada and the G20 countries or the G7 countries, more often than not, we will find Canada in the top three and often the top two in terms of overall performance. I am very comfortable with where we are compared…
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Mr. Speaker, the member is trying to sell the Canadian public literally false information to try to give the impression that Canada is broken and that everything is an absolute failure. No one believes him. At the end of the day, I would ultimately argue, as I have in the past, that Canada is, and will continue to be, the best country—
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Mr. Speaker, I think Canadians as a whole are very smart. They understand that there are dozens of other countries around the world that have some form of sovereign wealth fund. The Canada Strong fund that is being created as a national sovereign wealth fund here in Canada is a positive thing. I can understand the Bloc does not want to see it. I am disappointed that the Conservatives are opposing …
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Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to ask a couple of questions already today. There is a theme coming out of the Conservative Party. I recognize that and it is a very simple one, which is just to get out of the way. It is something that the Conservatives have said, not only in regard to this policy but in regard to a litany of virtually all policies that the Conservative Party seems to want …
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Mr. Speaker, I have already expressed this: I am disappointed that the Conservative Party does not have enough faith in Canadians and the need for us to have a sovereign wealth fund here in Canada. Many other countries around the world have such a fund. The potential contribution this can make to the economy, to Canadians as a whole, is truly something we should all be excited about. Obviously, th…
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Mr. Speaker, I am a little disappointed in the leader of the Green Party. She usually provides information, and I was looking forward to her comments. I have a question for the member. The Canada Infrastructure Bank deals with applicants that come from different organizations and energy-efficient programs. It has been very successful as a program. Here we have a national wealth fund, which is comp…
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Mr. Speaker, I am somewhat disappointed, as I said earlier, in the Conservative Party not recognizing the value of having a national wealth fund. I think of the expansion of the port of Montreal in the province of Quebec. There is so much potential for projects across Canada, in Quebec and all regions of the country. This gives Canadians an opportunity to potentially participate. It allows for the…
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Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that the Conservatives do not see the larger picture. They make reference to the Canada Infrastructure Bank, which they have been soundly in opposition to for years now, yet Canadians in every region of the country have benefited from this program. Provinces, municipalities and the private sector have actually been engaged. We are talking about billions and billions …
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Mr. Speaker, we are celebrating that it has been just over a year now since this government was elected. Virtually from day one, there has been a focus on building a strong Canada, a Canada that is strong for all. Part of that means looking at major projects. Today the opposition has chosen to talk about a wealth fund. These types of initiatives that the government has brought forward are meant to…
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Mr. Speaker, Canada is open. A year ago, Canadians voted in a new Prime Minister and a new government that have been aggressively pursuing investments and increased exportation. We have now put in a fund that will draw in literally billions of additional dollars. We are going to see a stronger and healthier economy, because we have a government and a Prime Minister who understand the economy and t…
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I suspect if you were to canvass the House, you would find unanimous consent to call it 5:30 p.m., so we could begin private members' hour.
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Mr. Speaker, as you can see, there is a great sense of disappointment from across the way. I am sure we could arrange to have unanimous consent so I would be able to finish the entire speech. Having said that, I am a bit discouraged by the member who just spoke because he is trying to give a false impression. There are two issues that I would like to address: the very serious issue of MAID and the…
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Mr. Speaker, on the question of privilege that was raised, we would like to review the comments that the member put on the record and then report back to the House on the matter.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all questions be allowed to stand, please.
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Mr. Speaker, I ask that all notices of motions for the production of papers also be allowed to stand.
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Mr. Speaker, I really appreciate the comments the member has put on the record with regard to Bill S-3, because it is a very important piece of legislation from a consumer awareness perspective. A member from the Conservative Party highlighted an issue, which I believe was in a CBC report, where an investigation was done and there were some grocery chains with questionable behaviour. Hopefully, we…
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Mr. Speaker, consumers and the issue of affordability is the primary motivation for bringing the legislation forward and looking at what the Senate has done. I welcome the opportunity to see the bill go to the standing committee where some of the questions can be posed and concerns can be expressed. I do believe in the importance of the legislation and how it would protect trade and commerce here …
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Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that this legislation's primary purpose is to not only modernize a very important aspect of our measurement and weight system but also to protect our consumers. The government is very, very much aware of the affordability issue. It is one of the reasons, for example, that we have the groceries and essentials program. It is one of the reasons that we continue to…
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand, please.
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Madam Speaker, a year ago today, Canadians elected a new Prime Minister, and that Prime Minister talked about the importance of securing Canada and making Canada a stronger, healthier country. I think it is significant that today we are going into an area in which Canada has not been before, which has the potential to create thousands of jobs. It would put us with other G7 countries, recognizing t…
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Madam Speaker, no one could accuse the Conservatives of being visionary. At the end of the day, this is substantive legislation in an area Canada needs to go into. We have a Prime Minister and a government that are focused on building and expanding our economy and ensuring that we get the type of security that is necessary, and then we have the Conservatives. I am not too sure exactly what it is t…
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Madam Speaker, I believe the member needs to expand his thinking. Just on that particular point, Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg manufactures satellites and actually has satellites that are circling the earth today. We have an industry that is alive and has thousands of people employed. Having the ability to launch our own is good for Canada. It is good for the industry. The Conservative Party shou…
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Madam Speaker, one of the aspects I want to highlight with regard to the legislation is the impact it would have on the industry as a whole after we see the legislation pass, go to committee and increase the amount of dialogue. There are industries, such as our aerospace industry. Quebec has a very healthy, growing and vibrant aerospace industry, and so does the province of Manitoba. I made refere…
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Madam Speaker, it is estimated that with the passage of the legislation, we could see something actually taking place in Canada as early as 2028. It is an ambitious goal, but it can be achieved. The legislation, in itself, plays a critical role in hitting that particular goal. I am wondering if the member from the Bloc could give an indication of how they see the legislation going through the Hous…
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Madam Speaker, what a pleasure it is to be able to rise today to speak on significant legislation. Bill C-28 is legislation that I believe should inspire people to think big in terms of the opportunities that are there to build a stronger and healthier country for all. It is a wonderful anniversary piece of legislation, and I do not know if it was actually planned that way. It is great to be havin…
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That was more of a Freudian slip. Madam Speaker, I was referring to the Bloc's position when I posed the question of how its members saw the legislation proceeding. The principle of the legislation is sound. How can someone oppose the principle of what the Government of Canada is trying to do by presenting the legislation? To that end, the Bloc's position was that it could see the legislation goin…
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Madam Speaker, I will get to answering some of the member's questions. The nice thing is that, in listening to the Conservative member's speech, many of the questions he posed could actually be answered in great detail at the committee stage. I look forward to the legislation hitting the committee stage, where those answers will be provided. He might not like the content of the answer, but the gov…
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Madam Speaker, I was just reminded by one of my friends across the way that we have a majority. However, whether we have a majority or not, I can assure members across the way that, as much as possible, when we see good legislation, we will say, let us get behind it, get it into a committee situation, have that dialogue and see where we can collaborate and whether there are ways in which we can im…
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Madam Speaker, what I would recognize is that Canada is the only G7 country that the member makes reference to that currently does not have its own space launch capabilities. Now we have a Prime Minister who has motivated the government as a whole to recognize the opportunity for us to enter this area. As opposed to being completely fixated on why we should not bring forward the legislation, I wou…
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Madam Speaker, the legislation establishes a very solid framework that would enable us to move forward on this file, which I think is absolutely critical. I articulated in my speech why it is so critical that we move forward. Nothing prevents further dialogue from taking place at committee stage. At such a point in time, any amendments would strengthen the legislation and address some of the conce…
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Mr. Speaker, I wish I had thought of making the direct link to that in my comments. At the end of the day, and I have said this in the past, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have very strong, healthy aerospace industries. One of the reasons is because of postgraduate educational facilities that have so much to contribute. We have some of the smartest intellectual individuals and hard workers who make …
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Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the member starts off giving out misinformation. He makes a mockery of the 2%, saying that we have not hit the 2%. Here is a wake-up call for the member opposite: He does not have to believe everything the Conservative back room tells him. We actually hit the 2% months ago. If you get the back room to tell you a bit, what you will find is that we got 2%, the new…
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Mr. Speaker, let me use the word “excitement.” There is a great deal of excitement when we have an industry that has so much potential and we bring forward legislation that would have a profoundly positive impact, not only on one industry, but on multiple industries. It has just been pointed out how post-secondary facilities themselves would benefit from this. Canadians as a whole, in terms of the…
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Mr. Speaker, Waterloo, Winnipeg, Montreal and all of Canada will benefit from the passage of this legislation.
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Mr. Speaker, I am a bit more encouraged now than I was when the Conservative critic stood up, because the current Conservative seems to be open to the idea that it is a good thing for Canada to have a launch pad. At the end of the day, if we could see the legislation go through the process, it would be a positive step forward. The government has a very ambitious goal. We would like to see somethin…
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Mr. Speaker, recognizing that now is the time, the government is focused on building Canada strong for all of us in different ways. When we think of securing our future and of the economic potential, the thousands of jobs and the contributions to the GDP, it is not just about the space industry but also involves our aerospace industries and post‑secondary facilities, with both direct and indirect …
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments my colleague has put on the record this afternoon. I really want to amplify that Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario have very strong and healthy aerospace industries. In many ways, Quebec leads space development, and the aerospace industry in particular, and there would be, through the passage of this legislation, the opportunity to expand those critical industries…
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Mr. Speaker, the government and the Prime Minister have established a fairly ambitious goal. Hopefully, sometime in 2028, we will actually be able to launch something from Canada, which would be a first. Part of that is ensuring that we get this legislation in place. I wonder if my colleague could provide his thoughts on why this legislation would do a lot of what we have been talking about: secur…
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