Oral Questions
Madam Speaker, inflation is making goods and services more expensive this Christmas. Families were already struggling to make ends meet, and now many will have to decide between heating their homes or feeding their families. Natural gas is up 18.7%; food bank visits have climbed 20% and are expected to double in the months ahead. The costs keep climbing, but the paycheques just are not keeping up.…
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Madam Speaker, inflation is rising and Canadians are going to feel it even more at Christmas. For many, it will not be just gifts and presents that are more expensive this year, but putting food on the table for family and friends. If they can even afford to plan a Christmas dinner, a turkey will cost 25% more; eggs for their eggnog are up 7.4% and bacon for breakfast is up 20.2%. When will the mi…
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Mr. Speaker, it was reported yesterday that Montreal street gangs defrauded Canadian taxpayers and used CERB money to purchase illegal firearms. It is inconceivable that the government would allow this to happen. When did the minister learn that money intended for Canadians was being used by criminals?
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Madam Speaker, I will share my time with the member for Wellington—Halton Hills. It is always an honour to rise in the House and to speak, especially on the important motion we have before us today, which is our opposition day motion. Before I get started, I would like to give some credit. I am a shameless team promoter. I love this team. I will say it time and again. I want to give credit to the …
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Madam Speaker, that question is totally irrelevant to everything that I talked about. It does not matter about the parkland, where we are going to get it or what parklands we are going to take. We love conservation. Conservatives were in fact the original conservators. We love nature. I know what the government will continue to do. The Liberals will continue to destroy the economy so that they can…
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Mr. Speaker, there has been a surge of deadly shootings across Montreal, and now we have found out that criminals have been using CERB to purchase these illegal firearms. The irony of this being a government that purports to fight gun crime is overwhelming. What will the minister do to ensure this fraudulent activity ends and, more importantly, to bring these criminals to justice?
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Mr. Speaker, a Quebec court found that a street gang in Montreal fraudulently obtained over $100,000 from the Canada emergency response benefit program to fund illegal firearms smuggling operations, not to mention reports of this money also being used for both human trafficking and prostitution. How can the government not take immediate action instead of funding organized crime with taxpayer dolla…
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Madam Speaker, I can hear that my colleague's constituents are facing the same problems I referenced in my speech, and that many Canadians are facing from coast to coast to coast. I am not sure if the member missed the beginning part of my speech when I gave credit to our member for Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon. He developed incredible platform contributions regarding this specific piece and indi…
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Madam Speaker, after listening to my colleague's question, I think we share the same idea. The most important thing to facilitate Canadians' access to housing is a strong economy. We need to ensure that lots of good jobs are available to Canadians. I think we agree on those ideas.
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Madam Chair, when will those implicated be prosecuted?
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Madam Chair, if the government was aware, why did it not act sooner?
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Madam Chair, as reported today in the Toronto Sun, the benefits are actually going to organized crime, including human trafficking, prostitution and illegal firearms. How can this possibly be? This includes a Montreal street gang called STL and gangs across the GTA. I asked it in the Toronto Sun, and I am going to ask it here: Was the government aware that this was taking place?
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Madam Chair, as the House examines Bill C-2, which is in front of the finance committee currently, we are looking at spending another $8 billion. What is the government doing to ensure that fraud does not occur in the future?
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Madam Chair, data shows that 8.9 million Canadians claimed CERB cheques, yet the actual number of new unemployed peaked at 1.5 million in May 2020. Clearly, there was some type of fraud going on. What is the government doing to hold these fraudsters to account and get that money back into the public purse?
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Madam Chair, I hope that the government can answer this question. Industries such as hospitality and tourism have been among the hardest hit in the pandemic, but are now struggling to come back because they cannot find enough workers. Again, what is the government doing to help these industries, which are struggling the most, to find employees?
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Madam Chair, up to 55% of entrepreneurs cannot find enough workers. This is limiting growth, which we need desperately at this time, and it is forcing businesses to delay or refuse new orders. What is the government doing to help these small and medium-sized businesses find employees?
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Madam Chair, employers are experiencing delays of up to a year in receiving their labour market impact assessments. What is the government doing to expedite the LMIA process in an effort to address the labour shortage?
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Madam Chair, I will give the government an easier question: It is also proposing automation, which I actually think is a good idea. What is the government doing to promote automation in industry, again, to end the labour shortage here in Canada?
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Madam Chair, for thousands of low-income seniors the guaranteed income supplement significantly declined because they received the Canada emergency response benefit. What is the minister going to do to actively fix this issue for affected Canadians?
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Madam Chair, the government is proposing solutions such as formal hiring processes and holistic packages, but this is only shifting the players on the board. We need new workers. What is the government doing to find new workers to end the labour shortage?
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Madam Chair, the jobless rate plunged from 6.7% to 6% in November, putting us in a labour shortage crisis. What is the government doing to end the labour shortage crisis?
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Madam Chair, in a tight labour market, where we are statistically at full employment but where employers are struggling to find employees, what is the government doing to avoid wage inflation?
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Madam Chair, year-over-year increases of the CPI are approaching 5% annually. It is supposed to be a target of 2% annually. Again, what is the government doing so that wages are keeping pace with inflation?
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Madam Chair, salaries are rising at a rate of 2.5%, yet the consumer price index is rising at 4.1%. That is a delta of 1.6%. What is the government doing so that wages are keeping pace with inflation?
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Madam Chair, the government is also turning its back on Canadians with disabilities. Those eligible for CERB and CRB had to make $5,000 or more in the year prior. This could be from various sources, including provincial EI programs. However, the government chose not to consider the CPP—
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Madam Chair, when will these be investigated?
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Mr. Speaker, I think it is very apparent that the government wanted a blank cheque from the very beginning. Fortunately, it was the member for Carleton who was able to recognize it at the time and make those amendments so that Canadians were not on the line for that. As well, I will say this. We outlined four incidents at the very beginning of the pandemic where we collaborated and acted with comp…
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Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here. I will be splitting my time with the member for St. Albert—Edmonton. He has always got such incredibly intelligent debate and I always look forward to his words. I am so thrilled to be back in the House. I very much thank the people of Calgary Midnapore for returning me to the chamber with the highest percentile of votes in Calgary, the highest percentile …
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Mr. Speaker, I think we can see that, much like the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois wants to live in the past. We, the Conservatives, are living in the now. We can see that with the question we heard from our Quebec caucus of the Conservative Party this week. It had to do with a very important issue for Quebec and for the members of the Conservative caucus, namely, the labour shortage. We, the Conser…
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Mr. Speaker, The Globe and Mail indicated that a fifth of all vacancies were in hospitality, including restaurants and hotels. Despite a hectic tourist season in Alberta, restaurant owner Stéphane Prévost had to close his restaurants for as many as two days a week this summer because there simply were not enough workers. Why is the government always too little too late when it comes to helping emp…
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Mr. Speaker, The Globe and Mail has reported that job vacancies have soared to unprecedented numbers, with more than one million unfilled positions. Vacancies jumped by 16.4% in September alone. When will the minister admit the government's plan for the labour shortage is just not working, take responsibility and fix this problem?
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Mr. Speaker, we are facing a national crisis. It is not inflation that I want to talk about today, but rather another very important issue affecting our economy and our country, namely, the labour shortage. This is important because this shortage exists everywhere and on two levels. First, it affects all regions. No region in Canada is spared: grocery stores in Quebec, restaurants in Banff and fac…
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Mr. Speaker, sectors across Canada are grappling with labour shortages. A BDC report has found that 64% of companies say that difficulties finding workers are limiting their growth. RBC reported that over one-third of businesses are having problems finding employees, resulting in 870,000 vacancies across Canada. Businesses need workers to make money. What is the minister doing to resolve these lab…
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