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Adjournment Proceedings

2026-05-25 Sitting 121 Showing 1–4 of 4

MPs discussed Canadian space launch capabilities and military spending during the Adjournment Proceedings. The Conservative MP criticized the Liberal government for not addressing concerns about the cost of living and called their answers evasive. The Liberal MP said establishing a space launch industry would drive investment and create jobs.

Official Hansard ↗

Andrew Lawton

Conservative 7:10 p.m.

“I'm here to ask why the government won't cut all federal fuel taxes this year to help Canadians afford life. It's not enough to cut a third of the taxes for a third of the year like they've suggested. Their claim that any tax cut has to come at the expense of services is a red herring. The Liberals could fund a significant tax reduction without affecting services at all by cutting wasteful spending. I mentioned several examples of that. Why won't they look inside themselves and find ways to save taxpayers' money?”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to rise on behalf of the people of Elgin—St. Thomas—London South. Oftentimes, people who watch question period with the Liberal government in power will remark that there is a reason it is not called answer period. We often cannot get, in a 35-second sound bite, much substance from the Liberals, which is why I am glad to have the opportunity to take another crack at a very important question today. Those watching who are not familiar with what we call “late shows” in this chamber will remark that there are very few people in the House. There are no journalists present. There is no one in the gallery. There is just me and the parliamentary secretary and a couple of other keen stragglers here. I am hoping we can have a discussion rooted in the substance of the matter, which is that Canadians cannot afford life right now. Canadians cannot afford groceries. Canadians cannot afford the price of fuel. The question I initially asked in question period was about when the Liberals will commit to truly providing relief, not for Liberal insiders, not for consultants, not for bankers and bondholders, but for ordinary Canadians. Canadians cannot afford the price of gas right now, which is especially germane in rural ridings like my own where driving is not, in fact, a choice. It is a necessity to go to school, to work, to medical appointments. We put forward a very clear-cut plan, which was to get the Liberals to cut all federal taxes on fuel for the entirety of the year, as a starting point. Instead, the Liberals responded by saying they would cut a third of the taxes for a third of the year. Something is better than nothing, but not that much. When we talked about this in recent weeks, some Liberals asked, “Well, where are you going to get the money for that from?” The Liberals will often say that any tax cut has to come at the expense of services, but that is a red herring that is rooted in a fundamental misrepresentation of what the Liberals have prioritized spending on. I would like to mention a couple of those things here. The Liberals are committing $90 billion to an Alto rail project that Canadians do not want and that will not benefit people in the majority of the country, certainly not people in southwestern Ontario. They are spending $742 billion on a firearms confiscation scheme that law enforcement has said will not improve public safety. Federal bureaucracy spending is expected to reach $66 billion this year. It has grown in the last year, outpacing inflation and outpacing the rise in the population of this country. Debt interest is $58.7 billion. That is money paying the interest payments on the federal credit card. Then we found out, of course, that the Liberals are spending $200 million on a launch pad. That is what they call it, but it is actually a gravel pit in Nova Scotia. It is on provincial government land, yet they are paying this to insider-connected companies as part of this ambitious Liberal space strategy that Canadians cannot afford in the way they are presenting it. They are spending $13 billion for Build Canada Homes, a housing bureaucracy with no track record of actually building homes, along with $20 billion on external consultants. All of this could go away and fund a fuel tax reduction for Canadians and a significant other suite of relief measures without affecting services at all. My question is, why are the Liberals not doing this? Why are they not looking inside themselves, as the Prime Minister has said to some people in the past, and finding ways to save money, which is not theirs but the taxpayers'?

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Sherry Romanado

Liberal 7:15 p.m.

“I think spending on space will create jobs and grow the economy. I want my department to spend billions on this.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canada has long been a global leader in the aerospace sector. Establishing Canadian sovereign space launch capabilities will drive billions in investments, create good-paying jobs, increase Canada's sovereignty, and support a commercial space launch and re-entry industry that could be worth up to $40 billion. This is what we are investing in. These are essential capabilities that protect Canada and create massive economic benefits for Canadians. In fact, it is estimated that the sector sustains 225,000 jobs across Canada. Through Canada's first-ever defence industrial strategy, along with our recent investments in aerospace capabilities, we are working hard to grow this sector even further. This strategy provides the signal to industry, allies, partners, the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadians that we are moving forward quickly and with purpose. The defence industrial strategy identifies space as one of 10 sovereign capabilities for Canada. These are the capabilities we need to invest in and foster so that our military can remain agile, effective and ready to meet the requirements of a more complex security environment, and so that we can support Canadian workers and Canadian industry by building on what we already do very well. By prioritizing space capabilities and other sovereign capabilities, and by making a host of other changes to how we are rebuilding and re-equipping our forces while reinvesting in them, we anticipate that the defence industrial strategy will deliver impressive results, including 125,000 high-quality jobs across the Canadian economy, an increase in total revenue for the Canadian defence industry of more than 240%, and a 50% increase in Canada's defence exports. This will all occur over the next decade. Our new build-partner-buy strategy means that we are investing in Canadian workers, in Canadian industry and in the Canadian economy. Our investments in Canada's space capabilities will translate into new jobs, stronger supply chains, greater industrial capacity and a more resilient Canadian economy. I will turn to one such investment in particular, the spaceport near Canso, Nova Scotia. As the Minister of National Defence announced back in March, Canada has signed a 10-year, $200-million agreement with Maritime Launch Services to build out Canada's sovereign launch infrastructure. As part of this agreement, Maritime Launch Services must spend 90% of that funding here in Canada. This means that $180 million will go back into Canadian businesses. Moreover, we expect that, once complete, it will help bring direct and indirect benefits to Canada's space, industrial, hospitality and tourism sectors, including those in the local community. Canada and Canso, in particular, are a natural choice for this launch capability. We have the space expertise, the industrial capacity and a site near Canso that is suitable for safe and effective launch operations, because of its proximity to the ocean. That is why many of our allies and partners have already expressed interest in collaborating with us to support their own launches, which will create even more opportunities in the region. The Canadian Space Agency is in Longueuil, and I have visited it many times. This capability is incredibly important to our national defence and our sovereignty. In short, this investment is good news for Nova Scotia, for Canada and for everyone who works in the space domain.

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Andrew Lawton

Conservative 7:15 p.m.

“The space mission doesn't matter. I think you didn't answer my real question. I'm talking about the price of gas and food. The government needs to spend less of your money. I want fuel to cost less. I want Canadians to keep their jobs.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, when the Artemis mission was on the far side of the moon, it was still closer to answering the question than the parliamentary secretary just was. I spoke about very real concerns, such as the price of fuel and groceries, and I mentioned a number of ways the Liberal government is not being respectful of taxpayer money. Instead, she came in here with a canned four-minute statement on just one of the many line items I mentioned, showing that the Liberals are not even prepared to rise in the House to defend their reckless spending. A general contractor in my riding is saying that, without relief on the price of fuel, he will find himself forced to lay off employees. A man in Central Elgin, a struggling parent, says he is putting groceries on his credit card because that is the only way to pay for them. Another one says she has to move because she cannot afford the cost of living in a place that she always thought would be affordable. Why are the Liberals ignoring these Canadians?

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Sherry Romanado

Liberal 7:15 p.m.

“Only a Conservative would say that spending 2% of GDP on defence is wasteful. I find that incredibly offensive. This investment will allow us to have important capabilities for both our military and domestic response, such as wildfires and flooding. To assume otherwise is absolutely incorrect.”

What they said. What they meant.

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