Liberal House leader Karina Gould kicked off the fall sitting of Parliament Monday by calling Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre a “fraudster” and a “bully” and accusing him of holding a secret agenda that Canadians won’t like.
“What I heard yesterday from Mr. Poilievre was so over the top, so irresponsible, so immature and something only a fraudster would do,” Gould said Monday in Ottawa.
She said the Conservative leader’s attacks on carbon pricing are an effort to “distract Canadians from his real agenda … because he knows that they won’t like it if they find out.”
Gould was referring to a speech Poilievre delivered to his caucus Sunday morning in which he said the government’s plan to increase the carbon price would cause a “nuclear winter” for the economy.
“There would be mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high … Our seniors would have to turn the heat down to 14 or 13 C just to make it through the winter,” Poilievre said.
“Inflation would run rampant and people would not be able to leave their homes or drive anywhere.”
Karina Gould says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments on the federal carbon price were ‘over the top,’ ‘irresponsible’ and ‘immature.’ On Sunday, Poilievre said increasing the price on carbon would lead to ‘nuclear winter’ in Canada.
Gould said the financial stress Canadians are facing would be made worse by a Poilievre government she said would cut benefits to seniors and families.
She accused the Conservative leader of bullying reporters and promising to defund the CBC in a time of “incredible disinformation.” She said that when Poilievre is challenged by journalists, he responds “as a bully, as someone who will not stand to scrutiny.”
The return of a ‘normal’ minority Parliament
Gould also cited the death of the governance agreement between her party and the New Democrats. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced on Sept. 4 he was terminating his party’s deal with the Liberals.
The agreement struck between the two parties in March 2022 committed the NDP to supporting the Liberal government on confidence votes in exchange for legislative commitments on NDP priorities.
“I know that the end of the supply and confidence agreement makes things a bit different, but really all it does is returns us to a normal minority Parliament,” Gould said.
The Liberal government, she said, will work with other parties on a bill-by-bill basis to pass legislation.
MPs are expected to debate Bill C-71 today, legislation that introduces changes to Canada’s citizenship laws to amend unconstitutional legislation concerning so-called “lost Canadians.”
Justice Jasmine Akbarali gave the Liberal government until December to fix parts of the bill to reverse changes made in 2009 by former prime minister Stephen Harper’s government.
Harper’s changes prevented some Canadians born abroad from passing on their citizenship to children also born abroad.
Gould also said her government wants to make progress this fall on Bill C-66, which makes changes to the National Defence Act that would harmonize the military justice system with recent changes to the civilian court system.
Those changes also include stripping military police and the military justice system of the power to investigate and
A game of 4-way chicken
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said his party is willing to work with the Liberal government in the House of Commons if the legislation it puts forward is good for Quebec, and if this Parliament survives long enough to get any work done.
“We are playing chicken with four cars,” he said Monday in Ottawa. “Eventually one will hit another one. There will be a wreckage, so I’m not certain that this session will last very long.”
Blanchet said to encourage his party’s co-operation, he would like to see the Liberal government back several private members bills put forward by members of his party, including:
- Bill C-319, which would boost pensions by 10 per cent for 64 to 74 year olds to match the increase given to pensioners 75 and older.
- Bill C-282, which would provide protections to Canada’s supply management system.
- Bill C-367, which amends the Criminal Code to eliminate religion as an exception for hate speech.