Oral Questions
Mr. Speaker, we know that income insecurity touches a lot of people in Canada. It is one of the reasons that today we announced that the national school food program, a program that is going to help feed nearly half a million kids, is being made permanent. That program is going to save families up to $800 a year. We are also making progress on another important driver of income insecurity, and tha…
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Mr. Speaker, Statistics Canada, this morning, told Canadians that last month, this new government created over 100,000 new full-time jobs. That is progress. This government is committed to building a strong Canadian economy, the strongest one in the G7. That involves creating major projects and building affordable housing. These plans are going to help employ tens of thousands of people and create…
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Mr. Speaker, today's job numbers are actually good for Canadians. They show that there are 60,000 net new jobs, 100,000 new jobs in full-time work and over 28,000 new jobs in manufacturing. The government is squarely focused on young people and making sure that we are going to have good, career-building jobs for the future. That is why we are making major investments right now in major projects ri…
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Mr. Speaker, we are on track to deliver a budget that is going to invest in Canada. It is going to be a generational budget, a transformational budget. Many of the priorities we are looking at are priorities that we have spoken to the House about already. We are going to build thousands of new homes that Canadians can afford. We are going to build major projects that are going to put tens of thous…
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Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we are in the business of getting things done. The member opposite can claim that he supports whatever he wants, but when it comes to implementation, it is the government that has the responsibility of putting forward legislation and making sure that we deliver for Canadians, which is what we are doing. We are going to build major projects. We have set up th…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway for his question and for his continued interest in young Canadians and the challenges they face in finding employment. I want to assure the hon. member and all colleagues that we share his concern, and I will point to the plan we have and the array of programs we put together to build a skilled workforce for the future. That is why we are…
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Mr. Speaker, there is no question that it is crucial for all Canadians to have a secure footing in the workforce, especially in this unusual period when our economy is under threat and when many people are feeling anxious about their job prospects. That is why our government is committed to preparing the workforce. We are ensuring that workers of all ages have access to training, retraining and up…
Read full speech →Government Orders
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time today with the member for Guelph. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that Canada's Parliament is located on the traditional, unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people whose presence here reaches back to time immemorial. I am pleased to speak about the proposed commissioner for modern treaty implementation. The creation of…
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Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly agree that the legislation is fundamental to prosperity for all Canadians. We need to have stability. We need to have predictability. We need to understand the treaties that underpin the relationship we have with indigenous peoples. When we have that transparency, when we have that predictability, it actually lets us all move forward toward greater prosperity and a st…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to share my concerns about many of the instances across our past in which Canada has fallen short in terms of the safety, rights and protections that are owed to indigenous peoples. It is one of the reasons our government has prioritized reconciliation and the journey that this is over the course of years and decades. I thank the member for his comment that the legislatio…
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Mr. Speaker, it is indeed the opposition's role to ensure that the government is held accountable, but these agents of Parliament actually help all parliamentarians fulfill their roles. They help the government. They help the opposition. They help us find non-partisan ways of sharing information within government. They hold governments across mandates to account and provide us with the kind of ins…
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Madam Speaker, the members opposite are quick to point to government spending as a cause of food inflation, but the Bank of Canada cut interest rates last week because it actually understands economics. We are focused on affordability every day. That is why we cut taxes for 22 million Canadians. That is why we are massively increasing the supply of homes, and that is why we are building major proj…
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Madam Speaker, let me tell the member about the impact of some of those Liberal policies. Here is a fun fact for a Friday: Since the time when the Leader of the Opposition was the minister of employment and social development, the Liberal policies that the member opposite referred to have reduced seniors poverty by 30% and child poverty by 38%. This year alone, we have increased the Canada child b…
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Madam Speaker, I want to talk about the things that the government is doing to make life more affordable for Canadians. In doing that, I want to talk about Mya, a woman in my riding, who wrote me a letter this week. Mya said that she moved back to Toronto to be closer to family, which meant leaving a corporate job and its benefits behind. She was particularly concerned about how to manage the expe…
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Mr. Speaker, when we talk to experts who know about food security, they talk about the things that are going to make a difference for families, things like supporting families through the Canada child benefit. They recommend we feed kids in school with a national food school program, and they recommend that we build affordable housing, because that is the number one driver of costs for Canadians. …
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Madam Speaker, food prices have increased. That is why we are taking concrete action to lower costs for Canadians. We have cut taxes for 22 million Canadians. We have 3.6 million Canadians who now have dental coverage. We have also established a national school food program for over 400,000 kids across the country. I met with the Canadian Teachers' Federation, which said this program is so success…
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Mr. Speaker, I take umbrage with the member opposite's saying that solutions like the school food program are band-aid solutions and that no one would argue against this, when, in fact, it was the member's party that actually voted against the school food program. The fact remains that we were the last of the countries in the G7 to actually adopt a national school food program and that families ac…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to rise today on the Conservative motion to discuss the actions the government is taking to address food affordability. Affordability continues to be a critical issue, and many Canadians are struggling to get ahead. Food inflation for groceries has fallen from a peak of 11.4% in January 2023 to 3.5% in August 2025. Progress is being made. Our government has taken, and will …
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Mr. Speaker, the data shows that providing kids with a healthy lunch or breakfast at school is key to learning. We absolutely need a program, and the fact that the Liberals are implementing a national school food program is something we are proud of and proud to support. Every other G7 country has a program. This is a program that has been a long time coming and that is going to benefit almost hal…
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Mr. Speaker, I think we have made concrete changes to things like the Competition Act where, for example, reducing the property controls that have previously existed in this sector is a way for us to actually have more grocers enter and provide a more fulsome marketplace for Canadian consumers. More choice equals better prices and more pressure to bring prices down. I think that is definitely one …
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Mr. Speaker, this is a government that continues to support measures like child care, a school food program, dental care, a tax cut for 22 million Canadians and eliminating the GST for first-time homebuyers. We have a plan to make life more affordable and to create the jobs that are going to create a secure future for families across the country. Conservatives, at every opportunity, vote against t…
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Mr. Speaker, this week I had the pleasure of meeting with the Canadian Teachers' Federation. One of its top priorities is the national school food program: healthy meals for over 400,000 kids, saving parents up to $800 a year in groceries. Every single province has signed on. Conservatives claim to care about food security, but at every opportunity, they vote against teachers, families and kids wh…
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Mr. Speaker, to the members opposite, yes, that does constitute a plan to support better health care, including $46.2 billion in new funding for provinces and territories. This included additional funding through the Canada health transfer, tailored bilateral agreements to meet the needs of each province and territory, and the renewal of the territorial health investment fund. I want to be clear. …
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Mr. Speaker, the main estimates also spend a great deal of time and put funding toward the Canada health transfer. Would the minister be able to elaborate on how this new investment in our health system is going to support Canadians' desire for a strong universal public health system?
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Mr. Speaker, the estimates raised an important issue to me and to my constituents in Toronto—St. Paul's around Ukraine. I was wondering if the minister would describe the measures under way to support Ukraine as it seeks to defend its sovereignty, its territorial integrity and its economy at this very challenging time facing the invasion by Russia.
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Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in this evening's committee of the whole debate on the main estimates. Before I get into the topic at hand, I would like to take a moment to highlight some of the measures that are so important to the people of my constituency of Toronto—St. Paul's and that our new government is taking to build the strongest economy in the G7 and bring …
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Mr. Speaker, it is Pride Month. It is a time to celebrate the 2SLGBTQI+ community and recognize their many accomplishments. We also know that the rise in hate targeting this community has left many feeling unsafe. Could the Minister of Women and Gender Equality share how the government plans to continue ensuring that everyone can live openly, safely and with dignity?
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I said Canadians are supportive of ensuring that big polluters pay the price of polluting.
Read full speech →Speech from the Throne
Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin. As I rise for the first time in the House in response to the Speech from the Throne, I begin by offering my deepest gratitude to the people of Toronto—St. Paul's for their trust in electing me to their seat in the House of Commons. It is the greatest honour of my life to be their voice in the House. I want to thank the …
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Mr. Speaker, first of all, in terms of the carbon tax, it is significant that it was among the first acts of this government to actually eliminate the carbon tax, delivering Canadians relief that they desperately needed. In terms of the industrial carbon price, Canadians are supportive of policies that ensure that big polluters pay the price of pollution. I would also note that Alberta was among t…
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Mr. Speaker, as Canadians, we learn a lot from the province of Quebec. I would look to the child care program as one of the examples, where, in following Quebec's lead, we have delivered a terrific program that has saved families considerable sums when they are seeking child care. Dental care is the same type of program, where Canadians are saving upwards of $800 per year on average, getting the k…
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Mr. Speaker, the situation we face is incredibly serious. The shocking rise of anti-Semitism that we are seeing in Canada and around the world is leading to acts of violence. My heart breaks for the tragedies we have seen in the United States in the last couple of weeks, in Colorado and in Washington. Our first priority is to ensure that we have safe-access legislation to protect schools, campuses…
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