Denis Lebel

[Softwood Lumber, April 13th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, by the time we return to the House in two weeks, countervailing duties will most likely have been slapped on our Canadian forestry industry because of this government's failure to take action and get its ducks in a row as soon as it was elected so it could fix this problem.

We have talked about this many times now. The only thing people know for sure is that this is highly likely to affect their jobs and cause major job losses across the country. However, there is still time.

Will the Liberals deal with the issue this week or in the coming days?

[Ethics, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, this morning, the Prime Minister mentioned Malala's humility, and I completely agree with him. He should also have shown some humility and recognized that it was Prime Minister Harper who recognized Malala as a Canadian citizen. He should have done so.

Mr. Harper would never have agreed to travel to a private island for a so-called personal vacation at a cost of $150,000 to taxpayers. I consider this a lack of respect for the office of a government member.

Will the Prime Minister tell us what happened and why it cost Canadians $135,000?

[Ethics, April 12th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister admitted to flying in a private helicopter during a dream vacation. That is against the rules.

He then said it was the only way to get to the island. Now we have learned that one of his employees had 400 pounds of cargo, and the cargo went to the island. Something is fishy here.

Today the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner is investigating the Prime Minister. That is unprecedented. What is he going to tell the commissioner? That it was a little personal trip? I personally do not need one of my employees to bring 400 pounds of cargo when I go on vacation.

[Justice, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not seem to be taking this problem seriously.

Yesterday, she said that there is no one simple solution and that appointing six judges in Quebec is not going to solve the delay problems. Those were her words. I would like to know what her solution is. How is she planning to address the problems that Quebec's justice minister and the Government of Quebec are talking about? This has been going on too long. We will take the time to analyze their process, but it does not fix a thing. As nice as it would be to have a woman in a given region, we have to work with the people we have. We do not care if the government appoints male or female judges; we just want the government to appoint judges.

[Justice, April 11th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we agree that the law is the law. The Prime Minister should make sure that when it comes time to enforce the law, criminals stay in jail and have their day in court without delay.

The Government of Quebec is asking the feds to speed things up. This situation is causing problems in Quebec's courts. Quebec's justice minister says there are 14 vacancies, but the Liberals say there are six. They should agree on the number, appoint some judges, and stop hiding behind a process that slows things down instead of solving the problem.

[Foreign Affairs, April 10th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, the provinces will be forced to appoint provincial representatives. This shows how little they trust the federal government.

On another issue, last week the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated publicly that the chemical attacks in Syria raised serious concerns about the possibility of working with the Assad regime. That suggests that she was considering working with Assad. Today the Prime Minister is talking about a regime change. The Liberals are finally waking up. The Assad regime has been raising fears and posing a danger to its own people for quite some time now.

Whom are we to believe on this matter, the minister who wants to work with the Assad government or the Prime Minister who wants a regime change?

Their regime is not working, and no one knows who is running the show.

[Forestry Industry, April 10th, 2017]

Those are just words, Mr. Speaker. It was exactly like that before. The Liberals are just trying to bring the population somewhere else.

We recently learned from the government's chief negotiator for softwood lumber that negotiations have waned since January.

Former Prime Minister Harper took care of business in two months with the Bush administration. Eighteen months on, negotiations have stalled. The negotiator herself said so. There has been no progress on this file because the government is utterly lacking in political leadership.

When will the government show political leadership?

[Justice, April 10th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, a man accused of murder was released last week because of the Jordan ruling. The Liberal government's much-touted new process is not working. I was part of a cabinet that made decisions based on the recommendations of a bench committee. Lawyers passed exams and qualified based on their skills, and judges were appointed. The government's system is not working. People are being released because there are not enough judges.

When will the government get it?

[Softwood Lumber, April 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, like many of my colleagues, I was here on June 29, 2016, when former U.S. President Barack Obama was here, and we were promised that this would be resolved within weeks. Now we hear what the Prime Minister is saying in the House today. Why is no one capable of explaining to the Americans that they need to import 30% of their lumber and that 30% comes from Canada? It is not complicated. If they import less wood from Canada, the price of American wood will go up, Americans will build fewer houses, and there will be fewer jobs for carpenters, plumbers, and electricians.

This is not rocket science. Why is the government incapable of explaining this to the Americans?

[Softwood Lumber, April 5th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, in just three weeks, our softwood lumber may be slapped with countervailing duties. I want the Prime Minister to give forestry industry workers some answers.

Yesterday, we heard that the Americans were refusing to talk about it, probably because nobody ever really explained to them what the system is all about and how rigorous it is. That is from the Resolute Forest Products CEO. He added that he was appalled at the federal government's feeble attempts to stand up for Quebec's forestry system internationally.

What will the Prime Minister do for the hundreds of thousands of families that depend on the forestry industry?