Industry Committee on May 11th, 2020

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I can stay a bit longer.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Peterborough—Kawartha, ON]

I have to go, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you, Minister Monsef, and thank you very much for the important message regarding the health and safety of women across Canada. I appreciate it enormously.

With that, we will move to the next round of questions.

MP Rempel, you have five minutes.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair. My questions will be directed to Minister Guilbeault.

I know that there's some discussion about how your government has spent I think $3.5 million on a digital citizen initiative to support democracy and social cohesion related to the spread of misinformation on COVID. I'm just trying to get a sense of what would be covered under that.

Consider this particular statement:

Border measures are highly ineffective and, in some cases, can create harm. We see that in countries that had the worst expressions, the tightest borders.

Would that be misinformation?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

What we're trying to do with this money—and obviously, it's not the federal government doing the work. We've partnered with three organizations across Canada: la Société de l'Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

That's great.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I'm trying to answer your question.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'm trying to get a sense of what—

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

There is also la Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, to help Canadians have access to the best possible information on COVID-19, which I think—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'm not interested in who you're working with. I'm trying to get a sense of the—

On a point of order, through you, Madam Chair, I would remind the minister that this is my time.

I appreciate that the minister might want to talk about who he's working with, but I'm trying to get a sense, given that the government is investing in an initiative that might restrict free speech, of what constitutes misinformation. I asked him if the statement, “Border measures are highly ineffective and, in some cases, can create harm”, if it were out in the public, would constitute misinformation, with regard to COVID.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

On the point of order, I will allow the continued questions. I ask that, again, members and witnesses direct their comments through the chair. We will use what we are doing with the special committee on COVID-19, which is that the answer will be roughly around the same time as the question.

Thank you.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

As I was trying to say, Madam Chair, it's not up to the government to decide. We're working with these organizations so that they can help Canadians better understand and have access to the most important information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Great.

How about the statement, “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus”? Would that be misinformation?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Again, Madam Chair, if it's the same question, it's going to be the same answer.

We are working with these organizations, such as the Quebec federation of professional journalists, so that they can provide Canadians with the best possible information and help them detect...because unfortunately there are people who are trying to scam Canadians.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Madam Chair, scamming Canadians—I don't want that.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Neither of us wants that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Again, I would ask that we try to avoid the back and forth, and that we go through the chair, please.

Thank you.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Thank you.

I'm trying to get a sense of what these third party organizations would deem to be misinformation.

Would the statement, “evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations”, be deemed as misinformation?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Same question, same answer. It's not the government that's going to decide. We're working with organizations, third parties, so we have independent.... As a signatory of the Buffalo Declaration, you should understand what independence means from—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I can see that I've gotten under the minister's skin.

You have $3.5 million that you're spending on restricting free speech, and all of those quotes that I just read to you were either from the WHO or the Minister of Health.

If those completely wrong, misleading statements that potentially had tremendous impacts on the Canadian economy and the health of Canadians came from the government, who watches the watchmen, boss?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I would point out that you are alleging that these statements are false.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Do you actually think that there's no human-to-human transmission of coronavirus or that border measures don't work? Is that what you are alleging?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

All I said was that the allegation came from you.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

They are false. They're false statements, but they're false.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

They didn't come from these organizations is what I'm saying.