Adjournment Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for that important question. I am also concerned about that issue. Our government has been committed to those efforts since the beginning of the pandemic. As a country and as a government, we are a strong supporter of equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines around the world. We are working with our international partners right now. As my colleague is well aware, thi…
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Mr. Speaker, at the risk of complicating something the member opposite feels is very easy, I invite her to consider that we do not decide things unilaterally at the WTO and we need to agree upon a text as a member of the WTO, and as a leader at the WTO, in order to move forward. I am not exactly sure what text the member opposite is asking Canada to agree to. I would like to see it, I would like t…
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Madam Speaker, as we all know, our society and our government are still facing unprecedented challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the time being, the pandemic has forced us to change how we live our lives to keep our fellow citizens safe. To be honest, I would have loved to debate this motion and many others with my colleagues in person in the House, but here we are on Zoom in our l…
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Mr. Speaker, today, Muslims in my community and across Canada are celebrating Eid al-Fitr. This celebration marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the end of a month of fasting and spirituality, reflection, gratitude, forgiveness and compassion. For the second year in a row, Eid al-Fitr is being celebrated in a very different way. I want the Maghrebian community to know how much I miss them a…
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Madam Speaker, first, the House sat during the summer. We actually responded to more questions over this pandemic year than we would have under normal circumstances. I certainly take issue with one of her comments with respect to the work of the House, which has not stopped. I would also mention that the Conservative Party delayed for weeks and weeks the passage of Bill C-14, which had critical su…
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Madam Speaker, no one was expecting a pandemic last year, so it was very important for us to reset with a new throne speech. I remind my hon. colleague that Parliament was prorogued in the summer and that we do not normally sit in the summer. I find her comments about confidence votes quite surprising. If the Bloc Québécois does not want an election, why are Bloc members trying to make the governm…
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Madam Speaker, I wish I could delve further into that question. With the short time I have, I do appreciate the support of that NDP member and other NDP members for our budget. The budget implementation act will deliver for Canadians. Having at least one opposition party supporting work and programs that will help Canadians is certainly very refreshing.
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Mr. Speaker, I really want to draw everyone's attention to Mental Health Week, which is coming to a close. We know that the pandemic has affected everyone's mental health and that our youth are among those who have been hit hardest. I know this because my community has lost several young people. That is why it is more important than ever to make sure this message gets to the people of Outremont an…
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Mr. Speaker, our government has always been, and will continue to be, a strong advocate for equitable access to affordable and safe COVID-19 vaccines around the world. Canada has actively participated in the negotiations on waiving intellectual property protections to COVID-19 vaccines under the WTO, and we will continue to work with our international partners towards a speedy and just recovery. T…
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Mr. Speaker, our government's priority since the very beginning of the pandemic has been to support our Canadian businesses and our workers. We know that small businesses continue to have difficultly making ends meet because of the restrictions in place due to the pandemic. To date, over 860,000 businesses have been supported by CEBA, and I understand the member's concern. Financial institutions w…
Read full speech →Routine Proceedings
Mr. Speaker, in response to (a), according to estimates data on business openings and closures collected by Statistics Canada, there were 134,730 new entrants, that is, opening businesses that were not active in a previous month, in the Canadian market between March 2020 and December 2020. This represents an average of 13,473 new firms per month. From January 2015 to December 2019, on average, abo…
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to take this question, because only a few weeks ago Canada ranked number two in the entire world in terms of foreign direct investment attractiveness. We take our exporters very seriously in this country. They are an integral part of our economy and will form an integral part of our economic relaunch. We are certainly going to continue supporting our exporters, and when it …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Miramichi—Grand Lake for his question and his hard work on behalf of small businesses. Our government will continue to support small businesses by extending the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the Canada emergency rent subsidy. We also introduced the new Canada recovery hiring program. In addition, we are investing in tomorrow's SMEs in fields such as aer…
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Madam Speaker, budget 2021 is a budget about investing in the future of our country; investing in the next industrial revolution and our digital transformation; investing in a cleaner, healthier environment and a new, green economy; investing in the participation of all Canadians in the economy, including women. What we have put forward is a plan to see our business community through to the end of…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague asked several questions, and I will try to answer them in the time I have. First, I am indeed very proud to be able to launch a pan-Canadian child care program. In my case in particular, as a mother, I waited three years before getting a day care place in Montreal. I know that Quebec is leading the way for the rest of the country, but we also need to make sure we have e…
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Madam Speaker, obviously pharmacare is an extremely important issue in this country. As he pointed out, it was in the throne speech. It is a commitment that we made in the last election, and it is a commitment we made again in the throne speech. We will fulfill that commitment. It is important that all Canadians have access to medication at a reasonable cost. We will follow through.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague has brought up an extremely important subject, but I obviously do not have enough time to answer properly. With respect to our support for seniors, the number of seniors living in poverty has declined by 25% since we were elected in 2015. Our government is there for seniors, and we will continue to support them.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Parkdale—High Park. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that the Parliament of Canada is on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people. In December 2020, our government introduced Bill C-15, an act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Since then, I have rec…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. I completely agree that Quebeckers want us to move forward with this and that they want to strengthen our nation-to-nation relationship with indigenous peoples. As I mentioned in my speech, I think that not only do we need to adopt the declaration and the principles in it, but we also need to back that up with money, which we did. In the 2020 fall economic stat…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague is absolutely right. What we have seen through many different statistics is that our indigenous communities are more vulnerable and do have real challenges when it comes to the health systems that are available, particularly in remote communities. That is exactly why this government prioritized indigenous communities in our vaccine rollout. That is why such a significan…
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Madam Speaker, I am not sure if I can give a complete answer in 15 seconds, but I will start by saying that free, prior and informed consent, as it does appear in various aspects of the declaration, refers specifically to the importance of meaningful participation among indigenous peoples through their own mechanisms in all of the decisions and processes that could affect them, including with resp…
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Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. During debate at the late show last night, I mistakenly claimed that the member for Calgary Nose Hill signed a letter calling for an end to the lockdowns that are helping to protect our most vulnerable from COVID-19. I was wrong. It was a tweet in support of ending lockdowns, which was reported by the Western Standard as the MP for Calgary Nose Hill “joins …
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague opposite for her work as opposition critic on the health file and for raising what is the most important issue facing our country at the moment; that is, procuring enough vaccines for all Canadians. I would like to begin where my colleague opposite began, which is to point out that the domestic manufacturing of vaccines has hardly been a silver bulle…
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Madam Speaker, my colleague's speech touched mostly on gun control. I would argue that taking assault rifles off our streets will absolutely help to reduce gun violence. However, on the subject of Bill C-22, it is important to note that the Conservatives put forward legislation for mandatory minimums and we did not see a reduction in the amount of violence in Canada. By eliminating mandatory minim…
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Mr. Speaker, I think the only fear that is being promoted is that by the opposition. The actual fact is that a lot of countries that do have domestic manufacturing also need to import vaccines. That was the point I was making. I noticed that my colleague opposite did not answer the question. She signed a letter urging MLAs in Alberta to go back on lockdown restrictions that are protecting the heal…
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, the health and safety of Canadians has been the Government of Canada's top priority. I really hope that the member opposite agrees and that she retracts her previous signature to a letter urging a provincial government to remove their lockdown restrictions in order to protect their safety.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to point out a couple of facts. The 92 countries remaining on the exemption list for these new EU measures are all low-income countries. There is not a single high-income country on that list. Furthermore, as the member should know by now, not a single one of our vaccine shipments from the European Union has been blocked or delayed because of these new EU export measure…
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Mr. Speaker, let me set the record straight. Not a single shipment of vaccines from the European Union has been blocked or delayed to date. Shipments of millions of vaccine doses continue to arrive in Canada, as planned. The Prime Minister spoke with the President of the European Commission yesterday, and she reassured him that this will continue to be the case.
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Mr. Speaker, Canada has already received half a million vaccine doses from India, on top of what was originally scheduled, and Canadians can also expect 1.5 million doses from the United States on top of what was originally scheduled. We are using every diplomatic channel and relationship possible to increase and advance our deliveries. Montreal is now at 17% of the population having received a va…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite knows, buy America was raised directly during the bilateral meeting with President Biden. As Ambassador Hillman confirmed under testimony before our committee, the issue of buy America is consistently raised in almost every meeting between almost every minister and their U.S. counterparts. We will continue to engage actively with our business community here in C…
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Mr. Speaker, as the member opposite should know, Canada already benefits from a complete exemption from the buy American provisions that the United States put in place. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to work at all levels in order to gain an exemption to buy America. This is just as much in the interest of the United States as it is in Canada's. We are all looking for a strong economic recove…
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Mr. Speaker, I too would like to applaud the incredible work you have been doing for the past five years. It is non-partisan work and you do it brilliantly in both official languages. I am very pleased to respond to the question and comments from my colleague, the member for Bow River, regarding small businesses generally and some specific small business sectors in his community. I will go through…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to apologize to my colleague. The time does go by very quickly. I had many more notes to share with him. I know in this second round I only have one minute. Suffice it to say that on the new issues my colleague raises, we cannot find a stronger proponent of our measures to support tackling climate change. I will not apologize for the carbon tax. It is critical that our go…
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Madam Speaker, I am happy to take this question from my colleague, because supporting small businesses and our exporters is exactly what the government has been doing since day one of the pandemic. I would be happy to sit down with my colleague opposite to discuss these particular issues. Let me remind all members of the House of the fantastic news we received this morning regarding our job number…
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Madam Speaker, we all want to support our sugar shacks. I know how important this industry is here in Quebec. I would like to remind my hon. colleague and all Quebeckers that Quebec's unemployment rate sits at 6.2% today. This is roughly the same unemployment rate as that before COVID-19, and we are very proud of our entrepreneurs, including our sugar shacks, who continue to work hard to create jo…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the hon. member for Davenport. I would like to thank my colleagues for their thoughts and contributions to this debate on the impact of the pandemic on Canadians, small businesses and various sectors of our economy. This has definitely been a very difficult year for so many Canadians across the country. In recent months, and particularly in recent weeks,…
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Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, not only for his question, but for holding down the House. I would also agree with him that, yes, the government and all of the members in the House of Commons are trustees of taxpayer dollars. This money, I truly believe, belongs to Canadians, but I also think we are responsible for supporting Canadians with this money. If it were not for our gover…
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Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her excellent question. I completely agree that we need to be able to respond, and that is what we did in January. Just a couple of months ago we launched a new program for highly affected sectors. We saw how much this program was needed, for example, for our restaurants, the tourism industry and the hospitality industry. Today we obviously want to debate Bill…
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Mr. Speaker, we received approximately 430,000 distinct applications for the wage subsidy. We did not discriminate on size because a worker who works for Air Canada is just as deserving of support from this federal government as a worker working for a small business. As much as I am obviously a huge proponent for small businesses right across the country, I believe that all Canadian workers, regar…
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Mr. Speaker, I must be honest: It is hard to take my Conservative colleagues at face value on the importance of helping small businesses considering their weeks-long blockade and vote against Bill C-14, which would provide additional relief for our small business owners. It is hard to take them at face value when they refuse to work through the evening to debate and pass important legislation. The…
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Madam Speaker, I thank the member opposite for raising the CFIB. The CFIB has been asking all parliamentarians, including the Conservative Party, to stop delaying the passage of Bill C-14, which would allow more small businesses and more entrepreneurs to access our financial support programs at the federal level. I would encourage all members of the House to work for our entrepreneurs, work for ou…
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Madam Speaker, if the member opposite would like to cite some facts, I have a few for him as well: 4.5 million Canadians have been supported by the wage subsidy; our rent subsidy covers up to 90% of fixed costs for our small businesses; and 850,000 small businesses have received our interest-free CEBA loan program, and that includes a grant. I understand that our entrepreneurs are having a hard ti…
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Madam Speaker, we are always pleased to work together to support our entrepreneurs. I would be happy to work with the member opposite. I would like to know why the Conservative Party is playing politics with a bill that will help our small businesses and entrepreneurs in this country. Bill C-14 is going to provide additional support to our small businesses. Will that member and the Conservative Pa…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Since day one of the pandemic, we have been taking action to support our SMEs. As the member is well aware, over 850,000 businesses received assistance from the Canada emergency business account. We are paying the wages of Canadian workers across the country. We are there for our small businesses. We have been there from the beginning, and we w…
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Madam Speaker, the member's question is a timely question. In fact, at the moment the Minister of Small Business is working with the Minister of Finance in order to address this very issue. We have created numerous programs. We also ensured that the regional relief and recovery fund would be there for businesses that otherwise fell through the cracks. Obviously new businesses created during the pa…
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Madam Speaker, obviously my colleague knows there is nothing more important to us than helping our small businesses and Canadian employees right across the country, but there is also no one-size-fits-all solution for this relief. We created a very wide range of supports and programs to help small businesses, including the regional relief and recovery fund, which is there and designed, really, to h…
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with my colleague, the member for Don Valley West. I am always pleased to discuss Canada's most important trading partner. As parliamentary secretary for international trade, I believe that our relationship with our neighbours to the south is of the utmost importance. Let us start with the numbers. Make no mistake, these numbers tell a very compelling story. …
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Madam Speaker, I have had the privilege of speaking to dairy farmers very recently, in fact, when we were studying the impact of a potential United Kingdom-Canada transitional trade agreement at the international trade committee. I can tell the member that I have the utmost respect for our dairy farmers and that I know how important our trade agreements are to them. They were actually asking us to…
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question. Obviously, I think that is something that we should have a much more in-depth discussion about, and I would be pleased to participate in that discussion. Having worked in international trade, I must say that it is important for all of us to respect the letter of our agreements, including our bilateral, multilateral and World Trade Organization …
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague. I know how hard she is working on the ground to help the people of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. I also know that Hochelaga-Maisonneuve has been hit especially hard by the second wave of the pandemic. I would like her to tell us more about measures in the economic statement that will help her constituents.
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