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Results: 226 - 240 of 302
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Let me just say that I think the honourable member was actually seeking to know what exactly is being discussed with our American partners. Let me just say that we are taking a very cautious approach to the health and safety of Canadians. A very collaborative discussion is happening.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
I'm not sure what the member is alluding to, but let me just say that the current arrangements are working extremely well. Non-essential travel is down very sharply. Essential travel, particularly for trade, continues, and that's a good thing, too.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Let me just emphasize to the honourable member that on a couple of occasions he has implied that a loosening of the current restrictions is being discussed. Let me be very clear that this is his assertion; I have not said that.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I can assure you that dairy producers will receive fair compensation.
I should also point out that we preserved supply management when negotiating the new NAFTA. That is important to Canada and Quebec, and I'm very pleased that we were able to do that.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I'd like to thank the member for his question.
I fully understand, as we all do, the important role processors play in our system and our country. I can assure the members of the House that we will continue to work with Canadian processors as the agreement comes into force.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Let me please inform the honourable member that we are, of course, aware that the current agreement expires. I had a long conversation yesterday with the Prime Minister—
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Yes, absolutely. Our government is wholly committed to restarting the economy, and we are working closely with the provinces to do just that.
Last week, our government, together with the provincial and territorial premiers, [Technical difficulty—Editor] released the principles that will guide efforts to restore economic activity across the country. That is key. The discussion between the Prime Minister and the premiers is continuing today.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, between the outbreak of war in September 1939 and the allied victory in Europe on May 8, 1945, more than one million Canadians served in our country's armed forces. More than 43,000 lives were lost. In the liberation of the Netherlands, which we also commemorate this week, 7,600 Canadians perished over the course of a brutal nine-month campaign. The scale of their generation's sacrifice can be difficult to comprehend, for this was a time when Canada's population was only 12 million—think about that—yet they shouldered their burden and they carried it without complaint until the job was done and they could come home and resume their lives, those who were able to come home.
In so doing they laid the foundation not only for seven decades of postwar peace and prosperity but also for a new generation of immigrants from across the European continent and, in time, from around the world, who built new lives in Canada, and who built Canada itself.
For them, our country represented peace and a refuge from crisis and turmoil. Then, as now, Canada held the promise of a better, more peaceful and more prosperous future. What better and more enduring example is there of Canada's importance in the world?
The tens of thousands of patriotic men and women who enlisted to serve their country during the darkest days of war in the early 1940s could not have known that, in the end, the allies would be victorious.
They could not have known that on a sunny day in May long years later, Canadian soldiers would be greeted as heroes by throngs of overjoyed men, women and children in the streets of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague. They knew only that they had a moral obligation to serve, one shared by the six brave Canadians who tragically lost their lives a week ago while serving in Operation Reassurance.
Mr. Chair, as we mark the liberation of the Netherlands and Victory in Europe Day, we honour all these great Canadians. We honour their toughness, their moral fibre and their resolve, which changed the course of history. We honour their sacrifice.
For the Canadians who went to the front lines and served in the Second World War not only defeated the forces of fascism, authoritarianism and oppression. They built a better world. They built transatlantic alliances that protect us to this day and formed bonds that enhance our prosperity.
When Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands addressed this House in 2018, he spoke of the enduring friendship between our two countries, a friendship forged during the war through the extraordinary actions of ordinary Canadians. Our soldiers liberated the cities from Nazi occupation and, to this day, the children who hailed them in the streets remember them still. Seventy-five years later, they continue to tend to the graves of our fallen soldiers. Their children and grandchildren lay flowers at the feet of monuments dedicated to the memory of our Canadian heroes.
It has been 75 years since our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents, the greatest generation, stepped up to do their part to build a more prosperous, secure and free world. As our Minister of Veterans Affairs put it, many sacrificed their future to liberate people who had suffered for years under brutal occupation. They left behind family, friends, children, parents and communities, people who loved them. My grandfather, Wilbur Freeland, and his two brothers, Carleton and Warren, were among those volunteers. Carleton and Wilbur came home. Warren did not.
Today, as our country faces a new battle against a pandemic that knows no borders, I cannot think of a better example to follow, and I cannot think of a better reason to serve.
For the last surviving members of the greatest generation, our elders are now the generation most in need of our protection from the COVID-19 pandemic. They look to us to do what is right, responsible and just, however hard that might be. They look to us to forgo, for now, the comforts and pleasures of gatherings and ordinary social interaction. They look to us to follow the advice of public health professionals to wash our hands, to avoid non-essential travel and to stay home as much as possible for as long as necessary.
I actually think it is very simple. We owe it to the generation of Canadians who won that great victory in Europe, and who built the peace that followed, to do whatever is in our power to keep them safe. We owe it to generations to come, our own children and grandchildren, to bequeath to them a country that is more prosperous, more free and more secure than the one we ourselves inherited.
They did their part. Now we must do ours.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, we agree that small businesses are essential for the Canadian economy. That is why our government has implemented an economic program that is without precedent in Canadian history. We have done so to help all Canadians, including workers and businesses. We have specifically helped businesses to pay salaries. Small businesses can access loans of $40,000.
As for rent…
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, let me start by challenging the notion that our economic support has been in any way cold-hearted. I think all the members of this House really, really feel for Canadians. We know that this is an unprecedented time, without parallel since the Second World War, and I think all of us are working hard to support Canadians and Canadian companies.
Our economic support right now is at 11% of GDP. That is a lot of money going into the Canadian economy, and that is great. When it comes to flexibility for the support for small businesses, we have made some tweaks along the way—
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, the government is not slowing down the production of Canadian-made PPE. I, in fact, agree with the member opposite that the fact that Canada has preserved a strong manufacturing base, the fact that Canada's outstanding patriotic manufacturers are stepping up to support us, is fantastic. We are working so closely with those manufacturers. We are proud of their work.
I spoke last night to the CEO of Thornhill Medical in my own riding. They are making ventilators right now and have started to deliver them to Canada.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
The government will commit to doing everything necessary to support Canadians, Quebeckers and the Canadian economy. It's impossible to predict today what exactly is going to happen with the coronavirus, but the Government of Canada will be there to support Canadians. We've already done a lot. Eleven per cent of GDP is a lot, and we will do everything necessary going forward.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, my answer is twofold.
First, the member is right to say that the seasonal nature of the fisheries and tourism sectors makes them unique. We agree that has to be taken into account.
Second, I want to point out that we have already invested $675 million in our six regional development agencies, and we made such a large investment because the agencies provide assistance to fishing and tourism businesses in the regions.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, I will simply say that fisheries, including the lobster fishery, are a special case, and we are working on it.
View Chrystia Freeland Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Chair, no Canadian worker ever should feel compelled to work in dangerous conditions. That is particularly true today, when we know that conditions are particularly dangerous. This government will never do anything with our programs to force workers to make that kind of choice.
Results: 226 - 240 of 302 | Page: 16 of 21

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