Health, economy, crime top issues of concern as House of Commons resumes
Health, economy, crime top issues of concern as House of Commons resumes
Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa to resume sitting for the first time in 2023 on Monday, with the state of Canada's health-care system, the health of the Canadian economy, and rates of violent crime in this country all top of mind.
As MPs began filing back into West Block — which continues to serve as the temporary home of the House of Commons during Centre Block's decade-long renovation — the parliamentary precinct was relatively quiet after this weekend's one-year anniversary of the "Freedom Convoy" protest kickoff came and went with little fanfare.
On Monday afternoon, question period provided the first opportunity for politicians to square off on the headline-grabbing issues during the month-long holiday hiatus. From another chaotic travel season, to questions swirling around past comments about Quebec made by the Liberals' newly appointed special representative on combating Islamophobia, there was plenty for MPs to dig into.
The first item of government business up for debate was the Liberals' Bill C-35, aimed at enshrining in law a long-term commitment to Canada's early learning and child care Act system, beyond the $10-a-day-deals the federal government has signed with provinces and territories. Early debate was an indication that the Conservatives won't be supporting the legislation, barring amendments.
LIBERALS PLEDGE TO STAY 'POSITIVE'
Ahead of the House of Commons' opening, party caucuses held meetings to plot their political and legislative priorities. For all, inflation, affordability, and Canadians' ability to access services remain key issues of concern.
Top of mind for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this winter will be balancing a number of upcoming big ticket commitments, with the Liberals' pledge to be fiscally responsible given the widespread warnings of an economic slowdown.
"There's a host of hot issues, obviously. But, more than that, I think there's an important priority for the prime minister and his government to look like they're moving from arguments to achievements… Talking about the cost of living crisis, talking about economic wellbeing, talking about health care, talking about crime," said CTV political commentator Scott Reid on CTV News Channel on Monday.
"And I think the fundamental mission for the government right now is to demonstrate that it can fix those things that people are worried aren't working, and that they can make real progress,” Reid said. “This session is an opportunity for him day in and day out, measure to measure, policy to policy, question period to question period, to prove his point, that this government is getting things fixed and getting things done.”
In his caucus-rallying speech to MPs on Friday, Trudeau said, while the country and the world are facing "difficult times" given the risk of a recession and the ongoing war in Ukraine, it is important that Liberals reaffirm their "positive vision" for the future.
"This is a pivotal moment, not just for our country, but for the whole world. And, as we head together into this new sitting of Parliament, we — all of us — we must be ready to meet this moment. We must remember to always put Canadians at the centre of everything we do," Trudeau said.
CONSERVATIVES FOCUS ON CRIME RATE
Heading into a new year as the head of the Official Opposition to the Liberal minority, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to continue calling out reckless spending. As his caucus plans to push a number of committee studies connected to what they see as the Liberals' inability to govern without ethics breaches, or deliver services without relying on private consultants, Poilievre on Monday deliberately emphasized the fact that Trudeau has now been in power for "eight years."
During question period, the Conservatives largely focused their questions around the ongoing discussion of how much the federal Liberals have spent on contracts granted to consulting firm McKinsey and Co., while at the same time placing the blame on the federal government for a range of issues.
"After eight years of this prime minister, we have 40-year highs in inflation, we have a 32 per cent increase in crime. We have the TTC transit system in downtown Toronto overtaken by crime. We have more people eating at food banks and living at homeless shelters … but not everybody is doing badly, his friends at McKinsey are rolling in cash … How much did he give McKinsey?" Poilievre said Monday, echoing his own fiery address to caucus last week.
On Monday, Conservative deputy leader and MP Melissa Lantsman requested an emergency debate "regarding the unprecedented levels of violent crime across Canada," but her request was denied by House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota, who deemed it didn't meet the criteria.
The two main federal parties are heading into this political year looking to make their respective cases for why Canada is, or is not "broken." Trudeau has accused Poilievre of choosing to amplify anger without real solutions for the problems he's pointing to, while Poilievre is suggesting the prime minister has his head in the sand and should "get out of the way."
"We've got an interesting battle shaping up between Pierre Poilievre and Justin Trudeau… I think that the richest vein to be mined by the Conservatives, is simple government incompetence," said CTV political commentator Tom Mulcair on CTV News Channel on Monday. "This is a core question of, you know, can the Conservatives do better?
NDP PRIORITIZE PRIVATIZATION DEBATE
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh — holding tough on seeing some big-ticket supply-and-confidence deal items fulfilled — started off Monday's sitting calling for an emergency debate on what he considers a "big shift" in the way health care is being delivered in Canada, sounding alarms over provinces' plans to increase privatization in certain areas.
During a return-to-Parliament-focused press conference Monday morning, Singh told reporters that he's been "surprised" to see that Trudeau is considering what Ontario is doing with its plan to allow more private clinics to perform surgeries as "innovation,” as he recently told the Toronto Star newspaper.
Singh called it a "complete flip-flop" from the last election campaign when Trudeau went hard at then-Conservative leader Erin O'Toole for his musings about increased private options.
"That's why we're calling for an emergency debate today, because really what's at stake is a turning point in our health-care system," Singh said. "The decisions we make today will define the type of healthcare we have in the next decade."
Singh's emergency debate request was also denied by the Speaker, but he told reporters that he had plans to bring up his privatization concerns directly with Trudeau as the two leaders had a meeting planned for Monday, a week before the health-care talks come to a head.
PREMIERS PUT ON PRESSURE AHEAD OF HEALTH TALKS
On Feb. 7, Trudeau is set to sit down with the premiers in Ottawa to discuss reaching cross-Canada health-care funding deals, a meeting that provincial leadership considers a long time coming.
The prime minister has said he views the gathering as a chance for federal, provincial and territorial governments to discuss an agreement — or series of agreements — that will see more funding put into health-care systems across the country, in exchange for improved care.
In a collective statement issued Monday morning, the premiers restated their expectation that the federal government increase the Canada Health Transfer from 22 per cent to 35 per cent, despite indications from Trudeau and his top negotiators that they aren't looking for a one-size-fits-all approach.
"As a federal proposal has not yet been received by premiers, this meeting will mark the beginning of the direct First Ministers’ dialogue and follow-up required to achieve the significant investment and outcomes expected by all Canadians on this fundamental priority," reads a statement issued by Chair of the Council of the Federation and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson.
U.S. President Joe Biden heads north next week for his first visit to Canada as president. Ahead of the visit, both countries are laying out a wide range of potential topics spanning from migration policy to continuing support for Ukraine.
More than 130,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Canada to give transgender and non-binary people fleeing harmful laws in their home countries the right to claim asylum, but that's already possible in this country. Advocates say the popularity of the proposal shows politicians that Canadians want the government to affirm its welcoming position.
The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
Joe Biden comes for a sleepover next week to make Canada the 18th country he has visited since being sworn in as U.S. president, quite the protocol slippage from that fading, if not forgotten, tradition of Canada being the first foreign presidential pitstop, writes Don Martin in a column for CTVNews.ca.
After weeks of refusing to look further into foreign election interference, Justin Trudeau surrendered to intense pressure and appointed a 'special rapporteur' to review China's actions. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin writes this 'startling change of heart' suggests the PMO is in panic mode and reflects badly on the prime minister's decision making.
The Trudeau tipping point is within sight. The moment when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows he has to quit for the good of the party or the Liberals realize they can't survive re-election with him at the helm is almost upon us, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Bombshell revelations that suggest Chinese agents actively, fraudulently and successfully manipulated Canada's electoral integrity in the last two federal elections cannot be dismissed with the standard Justin Trudeau nothing-to-see-here shrug, Don Martin writes in his exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'
The Liberal MP who allegedly benefitted from Chinese election interference is speaking out against the report, categorically stating the foreign government did not help him in his nomination campaign.
An Idaho hospital has announced that it will no longer be able to deliver babies because the state’s near-total abortion ban — one of the most extreme in the U.S. — has driven so many doctors away.
China on Wednesday said President Xi Jinping's just-concluded visit to Russia was a 'journey of friendship, cooperation and peace,' and again criticized Washington for providing military support to Ukraine.
The first day of Nordstrom's liquidation sale began on Tuesday, but some shoppers walked away underwhelmed, as most items were only marked down five per cent.
President Joe Biden's administration is not dismissing out of hand the idea of renegotiating the bilateral 2004 treaty that governs the flow of asylum seekers across its northern border, says Canada's ambassador to the U.S.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have made a tool called Glaze which, once applied to a piece of artwork, means that artwork can’t be read and reproduced by AI tools that scrape art online to replicate their style.
Montreal police confirmed Tuesday evening that a second body has been recovered from the building in Old Montreal that was destroyed by a fire last week.
The Canadian Armed Forces is rolling out a new housing benefit that a senior commander says will better help troops struggling to find affordable accommodations while saving millions of dollars every year.
As some private landowners restrict residential school survivors from performing ceremony or searching their properties for possible unmarked graves, a federal minister says Ottawa is open to legislating new protections for the possible burial sites.
China on Wednesday said President Xi Jinping's just-concluded visit to Russia was a 'journey of friendship, cooperation and peace,' and again criticized Washington for providing military support to Ukraine.
Train services in Greece resumed Wednesday for the first time since a deadly rail disaster three weeks ago, and just a day after the embattled conservative prime minister announced an early election for May.
For 40 years, former President Donald Trump has navigated countless legal investigations without ever facing criminal charges. That record may soon come to an end.
Israeli lawmakers on Tuesday repealed a 2005 act that saw four Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank dismantled at the same time as Israeli forces withdrew from the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made a surprise visit Tuesday to Kyiv, engaging in duelling diplomacy with Asian rival President Xi Jinping of China, who met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin to promote Beijing's peace proposal for Ukraine that Western nations have all but dismissed as a non-starter.
A new report launched Tuesday on the eve of the first major UN conference on water in over 45 years says 26 per cent of the world's population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and 46 per cent lack access to basic sanitation.
The Liberal MP who allegedly benefitted from Chinese election interference is speaking out against the report, categorically stating the foreign government did not help him in his nomination campaign.
President Joe Biden's administration is not dismissing out of hand the idea of renegotiating the bilateral 2004 treaty that governs the flow of asylum seekers across its northern border, says Canada's ambassador to the U.S.
After weeks of resistance, and ahead of a vote that could have compelled it to happen, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office announced Tuesday that his chief of staff Katie Telford will testify about foreign election interference, before a committee that has been studying the issue for months.
U.S. cases of the dangerous fungus Candida auris tripled over just three years, and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the COVID-19 pandemic is likely partly to blame. More than half of states have now reported it, according to a new study.
A new report that looks at the prevalence of marketing to children inside grocery stores and restaurants suggests regulation is needed to help reduce unhealthy food temptations.
TikTok went on a counteroffensive Tuesday amid increasing Western pressure over cybersecurity and misinformation concerns, rolling out updated rules and standards for content as its CEO warned against a possible U.S. ban on the Chinese-owned video sharing app.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have made a tool called Glaze which, once applied to a piece of artwork, means that artwork can’t be read and reproduced by AI tools that scrape art online to replicate their style.
Gwyneth Paltrow's lawyer called the story of a retired optometrist who is suing her over a 2016 ski collision 'utter B.S.' on Tuesday during the trial's opening day in Utah, where the actor-turned-lifestyle influencer appeared in court, and tried to shield herself from photographers' view with a notebook.
Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne were among the 'John Wick: Chapter 4' stars honouring Lance Reddick, their co-star who died unexpectedly last week, at the film's Los Angeles premiere.
Overall inflation in Canada is cooling, according to just-released data, but the trend is not being reflected at grocery stores, where prices for some items continue to grow.
The first day of Nordstrom's liquidation sale began on Tuesday, but some shoppers walked away underwhelmed, as most items were only marked down five per cent.
A dozen hand-drawn, and sometimes abstract, pieces of art are on display in west-end Toronto. The gallery debut is a major upgrade for the artist -- whose usual canvases include her parent’s hallways and refrigerator.
Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports' most enduring examples of playing through pain, died Tuesday. He was 80.
Three-time defending champion Switzerland remained undefeated at the women's world curling championship with a 7-6 win over Canada in Tuesday's afternoon draw.
The NCAA changed its setup for the women's tournament this season, trimming the traditional four regional sites to two. Seattle and Greenville -- a city of 71,000 in South Carolina about halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina -- will each host eight teams before sending the winners on to Dallas for the Final Four.
U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating complaints from Honda Civic drivers that their steering can stick, causing a momentary increase in effort and increasing the risk of a crash.
The 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170 will deliver 1,025 horsepower from its 6.2-litre supercharged V-8, and the automaker says it will be the quickest production car made.
Police in Guelph, Ont. have charged a man who they say failed a driving test before driving off and nearly hitting four people with his vehicle and then deciding to do burnouts in a parking lot.
