Debates of May 3rd, 2024

Government Policies

[Branden Leslie, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Mr. Speaker, here is a memo to corporate Canada from the next prime minister of Canada: Fire the lobbyists, ignore the politicians and go straight to the people.

There are far too many corporations that have Stockholm syndrome in this country. They feel grateful when their taxes only go up a little or when the job-killing regulation is not as destructive as it could have been.

To be clear, advancing one's interests is not done by meeting politicians or holding luncheons or forums. If one has a good policy proposal, one needs to convince Canadians it is good for them. One must convince waitresses, carpenters, truckers, seniors and families, because when we start hearing it at the doorstep, that is when we will know it is a good idea. That is who Conservatives will be listening to: the common sense of the common people.

If one wants to stop the latest Liberal tax hike or get bureaucracy out of the way to build homes, mines, factories, pipelines or anything else, one should cancel one's fancy lunch, fire the lobbyists and go straight to the people.

Unlike Liberals, who only listen to insiders, Conservatives will always listen to the common sense of the common people.

Welland Sports Wall of Fame

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this weekend I will be attending the Sports Wall of Fame class of 2024 induction ceremony in the city of Welland.

I wish to recognize and congratulate Dan Girardi, Jack “JB” Ballantyne and Steve Latinovich for their contributions to hockey, Corey Lee for his contributions to judo, Lauren Aiello for her contributions to rowing, Mike Rao for his contributions to basketball, and Ray Sarkis for his contributions in sport at Niagara College.

I also wish to congratulate the three teams being inducted for winning Ontario Championships: the 1973 Welland Atlas Steels tykes baseball team; the 1977 Club Richelieu midget baseball team; and the 2016 Jean Vanier Lynx, senior girls high school basketball team.

Sports are more than just games. They are powerful agents of positive change within our communities. All of these individuals have inspired future athletes and our community at large. I look forward to recognizing their successes this weekend.

Mental Health and Addictions

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after nine years of extreme ideology, this Prime Minister is not worth the cost of the lives lost to overdoses.

Exactly one week ago today, seven days ago, the Premier of British Columbia asked the Prime Minister to reverse his disastrous experiment involving the legalization of hard drugs.

When will the Liberal Prime Minister put an end to his extreme policies that have caused chaos and death? We want a date, just a date, please.

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as a mother and a member of the government, I find the tragedies that are happening across this country, and the lives lost, completely devastating. It is shameful that the opposition continues to politicize this.

B.C. asked the federal government to work with it on a three-year pilot program. It has come to us and asked for an amendment to that proposal. We are working through it with the province because we have to get this right. We are here to save lives. We need to get it right with law enforcement and we need to get it right with our public health services, because our focus here is to save lives so that people do not die alone.

Conservatives have no plan, and—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this Prime Minister should be ashamed of himself for waiting seven days and still not announcing the end of this program, which is costing lives. Six lives a day are being lost in British Columbia, and what are the Liberals doing in the meantime? They are waiting and studying the issue.

Dirty needles are being found on soccer fields. Nurses are having to stop breastfeeding because they fear for their health given they are exposed to fumes from drugs being consumed in hospitals. Crime is on the rise. People are afraid. Quebec is not immune to this crisis.

When will the Prime Minister stop dithering and end his radical experiment? We want a date, please.

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, of course British Columbia is proposing adjustments to its pilot project and we support them.

Our approach is and always has been to save lives and reduce the risk to our communities. That is what we are committed to doing.

We have nothing to learn from the Conservative Party and the failure of its immoral policy, that even an adviser to Stephen Harper described as immoral and antiquated. We will not take any lessons from them and we are looking after Canadians.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister's hesitation is worrisome.

He just has to say the word to end this deadly experiment because, essentially, he is the one responsible for criminal law in Canada. That is where it ends. It is as simple as that. It is worrisome to see him insist on keeping this extreme policy in place with the support of the Bloc Québécois.

This morning, the Journal de Montréal said, “Crack, heroin, feces: the early childhood centre in Montreal's Chinatown at the centre of escalating violence.”

Yesterday, the Bloc Québécois critic for health reiterated his support for decriminalization.

Will the Prime Minister say no today to the legalization of hard drugs in Montreal and across the country?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that no active requests have been made by authorities in Montreal, Quebec or elsewhere, so this pilot project will not be extended to Quebec or Montreal. He is well aware of that, and I would invite him to watch what he says about that.

That being said, we will not take any lessons from the Conservative Party, whose senior adviser has done an about-face and is saying that what the Conservatives did when they were in government was immoral.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has been a week since the B.C. NDP government begged the Prime Minister to reverse his decision that made it legal to shoot up heroin on public transit and to smoke meth and blow it in the faces of nurses in hospitals. On what date will the Liberals make that illegal again in British Columbia?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the Province of B.C. came to the federal government with a three-year pilot program using decriminalization, so that people would not die alone but would get health care. The B.C. government has asked for an amendment to its proposal. We are working through it with the B.C. government because we need to get it right. We want people to live, not be criminalized. We want them to get health care.

The opposition does not have a plan. All its members do is stand there and shamefully fundraise off the lives of people who are dying.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it has been a week. Why is this not done already?

The stories in B.C. are horrifying. Heroin is being shot up in parks, on buses and even at Tim Hortons in Maple Ridge. Nurses are having meth smoke blown in their face. Parents in Abbotsford are scouring sports fields before their kids' games to make sure there are no needles and syringes around.

However, it gets worse. The Prime Minister will not even rule out expanding the policy to cities like Montreal and Toronto that have asked for the same craziness.

Why will the government not clearly give a date, just end the failed policy now, frankly, in B.C., and never expand it to anywhere else in Canada?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, ever since the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was born 42 years ago, Canadians have had confidence that their federal government will respect their charter-guaranteed rights and freedoms.

Now the Conservative Party will not say that it has promised to tear up the Charter of Rights in matters of criminal justice. Where will the Conservatives stop? They have not ruled out extending it to reproductive rights. They have not ruled out extending it to the rights of people to a fair trial.

Where will the Conservatives stop when it comes to ripping up the rights of Canadians?

CBC/Radio‑Canada

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we fully realize that the plan to bring the CBC and Radio-Canada closer together has only one objective, and that is to protect the CBC from a potential Conservative government that plans to make cuts to English-language public television. This has nothing to do with modernization, digital media or efficiency. It is simply management's defence against a potential Conservative government. They are willing to sacrifice Radio-Canada's identity to save the CBC.

Can the minister assure us that she has no intention of transforming Radio-Canada into a francophone version of the CBC?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would caution the Bloc Québécois against speculating as to what is currently happening at CBC/Radio-Canada.

I want to reassure the employees and my Bloc Québécois colleagues, who I know are very fond of Radio-Canada, as are we. Radio-Canada's francophone content and programming will remain separate. We understand how important this is to francophones across the country.

Radio-Canada will use public funds wisely. I am being careful because we know very well what the Conservatives want to do: They want to defund the public broadcaster.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Canadian Heritage is working on a plan. CBC management is working on a plan too. The two are not communicating and have no idea what each other's plans are. What we have here is another example of the federal government's legendary effectiveness.

Are these the people we should be relying on to ensure Radio-Canada's independence from the CBC? Are these the people we should be relying on to ensure the future dissemination of our culture?

Will the minister listen to the Bloc Québécois's proposal and make CBC and Radio-Canada two separate, independent Crown corporations?

[Pascale St-Onge, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, the Bloc Québécois apparently fails to understand that the Crown corporation and its internal management are independent from government for reasons related to the fundamental freedom of the press and independence of our public broadcaster.

As for me, I am committing to reviewing the financial structure, governance, mission and mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada to ensure their consistency with the current reality, in 2024.

The Bloc, however, never managed to protect the public broadcaster from cuts when the Conservatives were in power. They never will be able to protect Radio-Canada from the Conservatives.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, for the past six months, Palestinians in Gaza have been subjected to daily bombings. More than 34,000 people have been killed, including more than 14,000 children. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding before our very eyes. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced without medicine, food or fuel.

The Liberals promised 1,000 visas. Only about 100 have been issued. Four months after contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Ahmad has received no response. He managed to come here on his own. Today, he has a question for the Minister of Immigration. Will the minister save the lives of his nephews and nieces, who are still stuck in that hell?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, we continue to work hard to get people out of Gaza. Yes, over 100 visas have been issued. People are travelling to Canada. We continue to push to get people out.

Obviously, Canada does not control exits at Rafah. If people manage to get to Cairo, they can go through biometrics and from there, if successful, they can be directed to Canada.

Indigenous Affairs

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, mouldy homes, no clean water, impassable roads and no Internet make up the reality of first nation, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada under the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Indigenous communities have identified over $400 million in infrastructure needs because of historic underfunding, yet the Liberals have barely scratched the surface of this gap with the federal budget.

What is the Liberals' plan to correct their discriminatory funding choices?

[Yasir Naqvi, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more important to our government than reconciliation with indigenous peoples. That is why, from the very beginning, we have been working very closely, in partnership with all indigenous peoples across the country, to ensure that we rectify past injustices and making the necessary investments.

It is difficult work. It is work that we will continue to do with indigenous peoples, and that is why in this budget, and in past budgets, we have made a tremendous amount of investments in indigenous communities across the country. We will continue to do that work.

Mental Health and Addictions

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals continue to insist that they do not have enough data from the B.C. government to end the open drug use of hard drugs, such as cocaine or fentanyl, on streets, in playgrounds and in hospitals in British Columbia.

The B.C. government confirmed that it sent the Liberals the data that they requested within hours of asking. However, if the minister cannot make a decision, why not consider the fact that more British Columbians sadly died of overdoses in January and February of 2024 than in all of 2014?

Why are the Liberals not being honest with Canadians and just end their radical drug policy?

[Ya'ara Saks, Liberal, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, every step of the way, we have been working hand in hand with provincial jurisdictions, communities and municipalities across this country. We are speaking to families and health teams to understand how we can save lives.

We are working with the province of B.C. on the amendment to its proposal. We need to get it right. We need to make sure that communities are safe, but we also need to make sure that people are not dying alone, that they are getting the health care services they need. We cannot treat someone if they are dead. We are committed to saving lives.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, if the member thinks that B.C.'s experience with open public drug use is so great, then why is she not advocating for it in her province?

I was talking to a resident just two days ago from my—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!