Mark Holland

[The Economy, October 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, the truth is that everywhere in the world, the cost of living has been incredibly difficult to deal with. The Conservatives' solution to cut the things that provide vulnerable people support will put them in a much worse position. Let me clarify it.

The earlier question referenced the United States. Do members know that in the United States, life expectancy is five years lower? Do they know that in the United States, the average citizen has six more years of illness and disease? That is what their cuts would bring, that is the truth of what they are offering and that is why we oppose their agenda.

[Health, October 28th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely, that is exactly what we are doing in working with provinces and territories to make sure that the investments that we have in sexual health are there to make sure that women have access to an abortion. That is why we are advancing the work we are doing on pharmacare, to make sure that women have both the contraception and access that they need.

Regarding the member's point, and this is an extremely important point, when the Conservatives have such a huge number of people in their caucus who are anti-choice who are standing up against women's rights, we have to call that out. A woman has full autonomy and right over her body. There is no member of this legislature or anybody who should claim to have authority over a woman's body.

[Health, October 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, that was an absolutely critical point of conversation at the last health ministers' meeting, where we committed to doing that. In fact, if we look at what was done in the Atlantic provinces, we are moving forward with exactly that. The agreements we have signed with every province and every territory are for $200 billion. Just today, we got baseline data showing that for surgical wait times and making sure surgeries are provided, we are ahead of where we were prior to the pandemic. There are also more doctors and nurses in virtually every province and every territory. We are making important progress.

[Health, October 24th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I completely agree that abortion is health care. It is absolutely essential that every woman in every part of this country has access not only to abortion, but to the reproductive tools that she needs to have control and autonomy over her own body. We are making remarkable progress on that, signing agreements with every province and every territory, having indicators common on health standards across the country and making sure for the first time that every woman everywhere has access to the contraceptives she needs.

That is what freedom looks like. That is what we are delivering.

[Pharmacare, October 22nd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking the member for Vancouver Centre, who is one of the longest-serving members of this House. Her tireless advocacy for health care in this country and for pharmacare are a huge reason we have pharmacare.

It was just passed. We are ready to sign deals. What is that going to mean? It is going to mean that people who cannot afford medication are going to get it. That is not just an issue of fundamental justice; it is about cost avoidance and creating a system that avoids bad outcomes.

Not only are the Conservatives against it, but most disappointingly, they have no plan for people who do not have access to the medication they need. They want to cut dental care and other essential services. We are not going to allow it.

[Carbon Pricing, October 21st, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, cutting a cheque that low-income Canadians are getting, as the vast majority of them, or 80%, are getting more back than they pay, is not going to fix an issue like scurvy. What is going to fix scurvy is certainly not cutting our health system; it is not getting rid of diabetes medication or getting rid of free dental care; it is not attacking the foundations of our health system just as we are working with provinces and territories on solutions.

What is going to get it done in a time of global uncertainty is collaboration and working together, not nonsense slogans.

[Carbon Pricing, October 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, do members know what is back after decades of having been gone? Tuberculosis and measles are back. Misinformation being spread about things like vaccines and about public health is doing insane damage to people.

I will tell the House that if we care about food insecurity in this world, we should be supporting a school food program. If we care about food insecurity, we should be helping lift families up, not giving them empty slogans with nothing behind them.

We face difficult times in this world right now. This requires serious and real conversations. That is what we are centred on and that is what we think about. Those are the solutions we offer.

[Carbon Pricing, October 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I will tell the House that what will not help somebody facing food insecurity in this country that is caused by a global crisis and rising food costs is cutting the rebate cheque. That is what the Conservatives would do.

I talked to an individual named Bob today. He is a senior. The Canadian dental care plan just saved him $3,000 on essential care that he needed. He was talking to me about what that meant for his family and its ability to afford food. That would be cancelled by the Conservatives.

All the Conservatives have are slogans, and we saw what that did: fake lakes, gazebos and rubber cheques. They are going to go from using slogans to try to win an election to using slogans to explain why they are not doing anything for anybody. We are not going to allow that to happen.

[Health, October 7th, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, abortion care is health care. Making sure that women have access to abortion services is essential medicine. We believe this on this side of the House and we fight for it every day.

However, let me go a step further. It is also essential that every woman in the country gets access to the contraceptives she needs to have control over her body. If people are against abortion, against contraception and against sexual education, then, I am sorry, they are against women's freedom altogether.

On this side of the House, we are going to make sure every woman gets the sexual and reproductive tools and support that she needs to have true freedom.

[The Economy, October 3rd, 2024]

Mr. Speaker, I welcome my hon. colleague to the House. I look forward to her contribution.

We may disagree on how we get to solutions, but it is really wonderful to work with parties that are focused on solutions. We have parties that are really interested in finding common ground, like with dental care, which has seen 800,000 people get care, and finding solutions like affordable medicine.

We then have a party obsessed with slogans that have nothing behind them. It will not even admit it has no plan whatsoever for a senior who needs dental care or a person who needs essential medicine. The Conservatives' message is that people are on their own, but they have a fun slogan.