hazylavender/hi huggingface dataset:
Date: 2023_04_18
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: one of the things I have learned, especially in comparing the current minister to the previous Conservative administration, is that there is a great deal of good will. Our minister took into consideration a wide spectrum of factors in coming up with a policy that has ultimately led to thousands of refugees, and I believe it is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 35,000, coming from Afghanistan. It is an incredible number, and we are still hoping to do more. I can appreciate that the member has some specific ideas and that he wants to share them with the House. I am sure that the minister will do what is in the best interest of all the parties sitting around the table and the people who are making these types of decisions. I say that because I am thinking of the Daoud family. The Daoud family are residents in Winnipeg North and Mr. Daoud is a translator from Afghanistan. I have had a meal in his home with his lovely wife and family, and I can tell members that it really warms my heart when I see people, such as those in the Daoud family, come to Canada. The service they provided to our Canadian forces personnel and others had a significant footprint in Afghanistan. In fact, it is interesting that we would be talking about this tonight. The first time I raised this was before Daoud had even came to Canada. I was the immigration critic for the Liberal Party then, when we were the third party, and the government Conservative minister was not open at all to translators. The record will show that I was, on behalf of the Liberal Party, advocating for recognizing our translators in Afghanistan, who were in predicaments that, ultimately, Canada should have been opening our doors for. That is why I am very proud that we have, in a relatively short period of time, increased the overall numbers and the manners in which people could come to Canada. When it comes to Afghanistan and Ukraine, they are virtually customized programs, so we can facilitate people coming from both Ukraine and Afghanistan. The safe passage issue is a very serious issue because it is not like we can just bring a plane into Afghanistan and have people exit from Afghanistan. When the member responded to the original question, it was legitimate to talk about safe passage since the incident we are all familiar with had taken place during the summer just prior to the last federal election. We are all very much aware of it. The difference is that we have a government that is a whole lot more sympathetic in taking actions, tangible actions, than the previous administration was. That was when I was the critic for immigration, asking for the same sorts of considerations for the Afghani translators who were supporting our Canadian troops and others.
Date: 2023_04_18
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Scott Reid: of course it warms my heart to hear how deeply the current government cares, and how much more it cares than the people in my party care, so I will just repeat my question. Will this caring government change this particular criteria, which is 100% under the control of the caring government, and extend Canada's protection to Afghans who meet all other eligibility criteria but who left the country prior to July 22, 2021? I will add this final note: There is no need to send a plane to Afghanistan. These are people who are outside of Afghanistan, in Pakistan, for example, who could easily go from there to here, but who are in danger of being deported back to their homeland, where they will be killed.
Date: 2023_04_18
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: the member, in a sarcastic manner, tries to say that it is nice that we are a caring government. I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being able to express compassion on such an important issue, because there are members of the Afghani community and others who might be following this debate. To try to give a false impression that the government is not sensitive to the issues that are being raised, including this one, would be wrong. We understand, very much, a wide spectrum of issues that are there, and we, whether it is within the ministry or with others, are taking those into consideration. I suspect, wherever we can and when we are provided the opportunity, we will act. If the member has some specific files, as I have one specific file, I would think the member would be using that--
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mrs. Rechie Valdez: as a foodie myself, I thank the hon. member for joining the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and putting forward this bill. In my riding of Mississauga--Streetsville, there are many small businesses and restaurants that are part of our thriving food industry. Can the hon. member share what benefits this bill would have for them?
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. John Nater: I would like to thank the hon. member for Mississauga--Streetsville for supporting this bill at committee. She hits an important note. There are many great agricultural ridings across Canada where primary production takes place, but in larger urban centres, there is also the importance of the food industry, whether through farmers' markets, local grocers or food production by restaurants and caterers. This bill would give us the opportunity to celebrate all parts of Canadian food from field to fork. Whether it be in rural ridings like Perth--Wellington or Beauce, or in Mississauga--Streetsville, we have the ability to celebrate Canadian food and all parts of the food supply chain.
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Yves Perron: I thank my colleague for his speech and the bill he is sponsoring in the House. I think it is necessary to enshrine the importance of food in legislation. I would like to hear his thoughts. We are passing good legislation that outlines great principles, but what does my colleague make of the fact that our agricultural community is currently sounding the alarm? Last week, the UPA released another statement in which it mentioned that nearly one in 10 farms are considering ceasing operations over the coming year if there is no liquidity support to help farmers deal with the rising interest rates. How does my colleague interpret the government's inaction? Does he, like me, think that these people deserve, at least, to have a positive response?
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. John Nater: I am very worried about the state of agriculture in Canada. I often hear farmers and their families in my riding talk about their concerns. There are many concerns I hear regularly from folks in my riding and across the country about the growing costs associated with production, whether it be the carbon tax, inflation or fertilizer tariffs. These are real concerns. The member mentioned the growing number of farmers who are looking to get out of the industry in the next 10 years, those farmers who are looking to retirement and are not having that opportunity to pass on to the next generation a strong and proud family tradition of family farms. I am very concerned, like the member for Berthier--Maskinonge , about where agriculture goes from here. Yes, this bill is a symbolic bill, but it is one opportunity for us to promote and defend the agriculture and agri-food industry, to stand up for farmers and farm families and to make sure agriculture remains not only a way of life but also the economic driver of our economy that it has been in the past and that I hope it will continue to be in the future.
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. John Nater: food insecurity is a real concern I hear about in my riding. In a country as economically rich as Canada, where we have, quite literally, some of the most productive land in the world and where we produce high-quality Canadian food, the fact that there are still Canadians living food-insecure is an exceptionally unfortunate situation. I would like to draw attention to groups in my riding, like the local community food centre, working so hard to end food insecurity and to ensure there are options in place so Canadians will not be missing meals and will have opportunity. They have provided me with such great guidance over the years on bills that have come before the House and on options we need to undertake going forward to ensure that no Canadian is food-insecure and that all Canadians are able to have the healthy and nutritious food that we, quite literally, produce in our own backyards.
Food Day in Canada Act
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Hon. Bardish Chagger: I am pleased to express the government's full support for Bill S-227 , an act to establish food day in Canada. This private member's bill was introduced by the Hon. Rob Black from the other place, and we are discussing it here. I want to give kudos to all members on the AGRI committee for working together and demonstrating that we can see bills like this move quickly. It would be good to see more of them come back to this House so we can see them pass in due time. The Hon. Rob Black was also involved in the event held at the Kitchener Public Library this past Saturday to remember Ontario's Farmerettes. It was a really interesting event. I was not able to go in person as I was attending other events, but it was an opportunity to reminisce about the role that women played during the Second World War. There is a new book that details the labour shortages during the Second World War, which sparked the creation of the Farmerettes. I want to give a shout-out to Bonnie Sitter, the author and researcher of the book, who kept a promise to the Farmerettes that they would see their story in print. Hopefully we will see these stories be turned into a play by a theatre company in Blyth, Ontario. The Farmerettes and the role they played began as a movement of women who took over the manual labour jobs in southern Ontario farms while men were serving in the Second World War. The women were compelled to do the work to keep food on the tables of their neighbours. One of these women was Mary Boucher, who is from the Waterloo region. This individual has contributed in many ways. I spoke with her last week, and it was interesting to hear her stories and about the role she played. Most of the Farmerettes are now in their eighties and nineties, and many are no longer with us, but the role they played was instrumental in ensuring that we had good food. This is really important in the Waterloo region. Our community continues to grow, and we are noticing in the Waterloo region that we are actually growing up instead of out so that we protect farmlands and have good food. What is great about the bill is that it provides us an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of this sector to Canada, which is something I am very proud of and I know all members are very proud of. We often do not recognize the people who do the work on the ground, which is why when it comes to farmers, the Farmerettes and their families, the hard work they contribute really needs to be celebrated. The bill would provide yet another opportunity to do so. I look forward to seeing this debate continue, and I look forward to seeing a food day established in Canada. I am really pleased to see that members are working together to ensure that we continue to showcase those contributions. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all the people who have contributed to this in the riding of Waterloo and across southern Ontario and Canada for the role they play. Please know that it is both noticed and appreciated. We are grateful to them.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: within the budget, there has been great recognition of the significant achievement of the dental program and the expansion of the dental program, which is going to cover more Canadians in 2023. However, I want to add to that the grocery rebate program, which is going to help a good number of Canadians deal with the cost of inflation specifically for groceries. The Minister of Justice was recently in Winnipeg. We went to a local grocery store and experienced first-hand the degree of inflation on groceries. This aspect of the budget is very important for people of low income. Would the member provide his thoughts on both those things?
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Daniel Blaikie: inflation certainly has been a real problem. That is no secret to anyone in the House, and it is no secret to any Canadian who has been out there trying to buy groceries in the last year or so. It is why another doubling of the GST rebate is important and why I think a larger conversation is important to have around a number of income support programs that were not designed to keep pace with this rate of inflation. We know that when inflation goes back down to the target level, whenever that is going to happen, whether it is going to be by the end of this year, next year or two years from now, those prices will still be up and will not be going down. This means that for those income support programs, whether it is the GST rebate or others that do not factor inflation in, and there are some of them, we need to have a discussion in this country about how we raise the floor so they recognize that we have suffered a period of incredible inflation and that the household budgets of Canadians have permanently higher costs. I am glad for what I see as a victory for the New Democrats, who have been pushing for a doubling of the GST rebate, first the initial one and then the second one. We are very much open to and feeling a sense of urgency about having conversations on other programs, including the establishment of the Canada disability benefit. The government has been promising that for a long time, but it has not given details of the idea for it. We know that people living with disabilities in Canada rightly feel an incredible sense of urgency and did so even before the pandemic, let alone this last period of inflation. Let us get down to work, roll up our sleeves and make sure we are supporting Canadians who need help. This doubling of the GST rebate is only a start. There is a lot more work to do, and the New Democrats stand ready to do it and to do it expeditiously.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Francesco Sorbara: I know the hon. member from the wonderful province of Manitoba has done a lot of work with private sector unions and public sector unions over the years. He is a great advocate for working Canadians. I was wondering if the hon. member could comment on the doubling of the tradespeople's tools deduction, which is another measure to help tradespeople and skilled tradespeople across the country.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Daniel Blaikie: that is certainly important. Of course, one of the other places we have seen inflation that has been really meaningful in the Canadian economy is with respect to construction and the cost of inputs for building things. Of course, one of the inputs is the cost of tools. They have not been spared the effects of inflation in a period when supply has been very tight. I think recognizing for tradespeople that the cost of their inputs has gone up and ensuring that the mechanisms designed to provide some relief for that keep pace with inflation are important. That is why the New Democrats have been proud to also support the trade mobility tax credit, both in the budget bill and in a private member's bill, to make sure that tradespeople are getting some of the same tax treatment that white collar workers get when they run their own business. It is also why we are very proud to have fought for and won in this budget, and we are looking for the legislation to make it true as well, the measure that working people will be represented on the board of the growth fund, which is going to invest in the new energy economy in Canada. It is really important to have workers' voices at those tables, because the transition has to happen in a way that creates good-paying jobs for Canadian workers right here in Canada. Our efforts to ensure that workers have a voice on the board that will be making decisions about the growth fund is an example of that, as is our insistence to have real conditions about prevailing wages tied to federal investment in clean tech. There are a number of wins for workers. It is one of the differences that having the New Democrats at the table has made, and we will continue to advocate for benefits like these for workers.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Marie-Helene Gaudreau: we spent two weeks in our ridings, and now we are back in the House for a long stretch together. When I met with the people of Laurentides--Labelle, I saw that they are worried about access to affordable housing. I would like to hear my colleague's views on that because, in my riding at least, people have been talking about the housing crisis for years. For more than 10 years, community organizations have been predicting what would happen. The Quebec organization FRAPRU has been saying the same thing. I do not know if the situation is the same in my colleague's riding, but I would like to know what he thinks of what is in the budget for housing.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Daniel Blaikie: I want to thank my colleague for raising the issue of the housing crisis. Certainly, the people in Elmwood--Transcona are feeling the squeeze in housing, as are people across the country from coast to coast to coast. The feeling is different depending on where one is. The problems manifest in different ways, but there is no question that people across the country are feeling those pressures. That is why it was a very specific focus for me in the budget speech to talk about the housing crisis. Recently, I was attacked in the National Post for some of the comments I made in this place. I will wear it as a badge of honour, considering some of the positions that paper wants to take on a number of issues, let alone on housing. What I found curious about the criticism was that it said I was misrepresenting the housing crisis in order to defend the Liberals, which could not be further from the truth. My point was that the Liberals and the Conservatives have far more in common on housing policy than anybody else does. Why is this the case? It is because they fundamentally accept that housing is a commodity and that profit should be the ultimate focus of housing policy. That has been true in this country for over 30 years now since the Liberals originally cut the national housing strategy in 1993. That was my point. We are not going to get past the housing crisis or get to a point where we finally feel we are making progress if we do not centre housing as a public good in our housing policy, instead of a commodity. My opinion is that as long as we have Liberals and Conservatives running the country, we are not going to get to that point. Ultimately, they are very concerned about protecting profit-making in the housing industry and reluctant to accept the idea that housing is a public good or human right. While they may want to do that rhetorically, in their policy, they still do not do it. That is why a lot of housing policy is not working, even though the Liberals have done more in the housing policy space than any government since 1993. There is a reason it is not working. What is capitalism? It is a small number of people owning the means of production and everyone else being exploited. What is happening in our housing market is that a smaller and smaller group of people own the housing, and everyone else is being exploited. Unless we can be critical of capitalism as a model, we are not actually going to fix housing policy in Canada. That was my point, and they are birds of a feather when it comes to that. I am sorry the National Post column did not get the point originally. I hope it is much clearer now, and I am thankful for the opportunity to make that clarification.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Alistair MacGregor: I always have a bit of a chuckle when I listen to Conservatives talk about removing the gatekeepers. My community of Langford is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in all of Canada. All around Langford, there are construction cranes and new housing projects going up. Despite that, the costs continue to rise for the average family. I will ask the member to cite that as an example, which I am sure is replicated in many cities across Canada. There is a lot of construction going on, but it is not really the right kind. We need to make sure we are addressing the needs of Canadian families that cannot afford to buy in the market.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Daniel Blaikie: the point I take my colleague to be making there is that if we judge the success of housing policy by how much money developers are making, that is not the same as Canadians getting access to housing they can afford to live in. We need to drop this metric as the principal metric and adopt Canadians actually getting into housing they can afford. One thing I have not had much of a chance to talk about that I want to mention briefly is employment insurance. When interest rates go up and for-profit building stops, people get laid off. Right now, they do not have an employment insurance system that they can count on to support their mortgage payments, rent or groceries for their families. That is why the Liberals had better act with a sense of urgency that we have not seen. A major disappointment with this budget is that the Liberals continue to promise employment insurance reform, but it is not coming. They warn of a recession. That is coming; it is why we need the EI system to be fully reformed, and we need it now.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Mr. Scot Davidson: I know the tourism minister loves Lake Simcoe. I think he even ice-fished there. I wonder if he can square this circle for us. We have been waiting in York--Simcoe since 2017, when the Liberals cancelled the Lake Simcoe cleanup fund. We are still waiting. The government is all talk and no action on the environment. It has just approved an aerodrome, which is tantamount to a fill site, in the environmentally protected watershed of Lake Simcoe in my riding. Can the minister square the circle for the residents of York--Simcoe on that?
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Hon. Randy Boissonnault: Liberal members of Parliament leaned in very hard on this budget. There is money in this budget for the Lake Simcoe watershed. There is a whole Great Lakes strategy that is part of this budget. We take our healthy ecosystem and healthy water systems seriously, whether it is tourism, growing the economy, welcoming new businesses, or quite frankly, making sure that there are clean waterways for our residents to enjoy in Ontario, British Columbia or Atlantic Canada. Our clean water agency, the Canada water agency, is going to be set up coming out of this budget, and there is going to be money for Lake Simcoe.
The Budget
Date: 2023_04_17
Chamber: HOUSE OF COMMONS
Ms. Marie-Helene Gaudreau: I have a very simple question for my colleague about employment insurance reform. As we have already said and as we have often heard, the government first promised EI reform in 2015. It made that promise for the second time in 2019 and for the third time in 2021. Last summer, the government said that it was coming. Just before Christmas, the Liberals promised it was going to happen. What are we to tell workers who are dealing with the spring gap and who do not have access to EI because the rules have gone back to the way they were before? I am not looking for a statement about how there are 830,000 more jobs than there were before the pandemic. That is not what people who cannot get EI want to hear.