House of Commons Hansard #129 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was workers.

Topics

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. I would like to allow other members to speak.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, the minister has a problem with reality. The reality is that the government has again moved time allocation which prevents individuals from being able to participate.

This is not the first bill. We are talking about 20-plus bills. The government does not respect the need to have legitimate debate. That minister brought in fraud legislation that made detention mandatory for at least 12 months. It was because of due diligence by the opposition that we were able to get the minister to back down and make the change that took that 12 month detention down to 14 days in terms of judicial overview.

The responsibility of opposition members is to hold the minister and other ministers accountable for the mistakes that they make. The minister is great at spin. He likes to talk and is critical of the Liberal Party. The minister has to take responsibility for his actions but he has a difficult time doing that. That includes issues such as this bill and that includes issues such as the backlogs. He is the minister who has caused the problem—

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. The hon. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, I am concerned for the hon. member opposite. His volume knob seems to be broken. I would submit that when he speaks about reasonable debate, we just saw an example of what is not reasonable debate.

That member sat on the committee, which heard from 109 witnesses over 43 hours in 15 committee meetings. He knows that I have been present in this House for most of the 130 speeches over nearly 50 hours of debate at second reading and report stage.

I know that member was never part of one of the Liberal governments but had he been he would have realized that time allocation was used much earlier on many bills than is the case on this—

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

That is a lie. That is a lie.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I will invite the member to retract that statement.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:35 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

I am sorry but I did not hear the comment that was made. Is that a point of order that the minister is raising?

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, the member knows he just uttered an unparliamentary expression.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

The minister was rising on a point of order. I would like to allow him to complete his comments and then I will recognize the member.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, the member used a heckle on three occasions that was clearly unparliamentary and I would invite him to retract it.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Liberal

Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB

Madam Speaker, that is the reason I stood up. I understand that the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism was offended by language I had used in heckling him. I would like to withdraw the word that I used. It was indeed unparliamentary and I will just leave it at that.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

I thank the hon. member.

At this point I will recognize another member for questions and comments. The hon. member for La Pointe-de-l'Île.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

NDP

Ève Péclet NDP La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC

Madam Speaker, I want to begin by expressing how grateful I am to the government for allowing us to debate this bill for 13 days. Indeed, we have here a budget implementation bill that amends roughly 70 Canadian laws in 430 pages, and we debated it for only one week. I understand that to the government, 13 days is a long debate.

The minister was talking about a filibuster. Apparently we had a filibuster during consideration of Bill C-31. I would like to know his definition of filibuster. Indeed, to him, holding a democratic debate in the House, listening to public opinion and studying bills are part and parcel of a filibuster.

I would like the minister to rise and explain to us the meaning of filibuster and the difference between a filibuster and a democratic debate on amendments he made to his bill.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, that is a very good question. A filibuster is a parliamentary tactic that seeks to delay or prevent a vote on a motion by means of endless debates.

We just heard the hon. opposition member say that she believes that every member should speak to the bill at every stage. If that applied to every bill, then it would be impossible for Parliament to take action, to make decisions and to get anything done.

In a parliamentary context, we have to find a balance between democratic debates, deliberations, consideration of changes and actions. I believe we have found a good balance with, as I was saying, more than 130 speeches, almost 50 hours of debate and the adoption by the government of the motions moved by the opposition.

At the end of the day, our deadline is June 29 and we have to fix the problems with our asylum system, which is the purpose of Bill C-31.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Joe Daniel Conservative Don Valley East, ON

Madam Speaker, countless people choose to pay criminal human smugglers tens of thousands of dollars to come to countries, including Canada, because they can afford to try to jump the queue instead of waiting in line like everyone else.

As was the case in Nova Scotia, these trips often end in deadly tragedies.

Bill C-31 includes measures to deter people from becoming part of a human smuggling event. Shamefully, the NDP and the Liberals are against these measures.

Would the minister please comment on why he thinks the opposition is opposed to measures to crack down on criminal human smuggling events?

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:40 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, it is an interesting question. I, frankly, have not been able to figure this out.

By the way, according to the polling and all of the research, Canadians across the partisan spectrum, across the geographic spectrum, have said loud and clear that they expect Parliament to act to deter human smugglers from targeting Canada. That is what the bill seeks to do.

We cannot deter human smugglers unless we also deter their would-be customers from paying criminal networks to come to Canada illegally. That is what the bill seeks to do.

Having studied the practices in other democratic countries to see what works and what does not, having consulted with our police and intelligence agencies, we have constructed a bill that we believe would be effective in deterring smuggling networks from targeting Canada.

My invitation, consistently, to the opposition parties has been that if they do not like our proposed remedy we want to know what their's is. We have had none. All of the motions we have heard from the opposition have sought to gut the most effective measures to deter human smugglers, from which I infer that they do not agree with Canadians that we should actually take firm action to combat human smuggling. I think the opposition--

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. Questions and comments.

The hon. member for Mount Royal a last brief question.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

Liberal

Irwin Cotler Liberal Mount Royal, QC

Madam Speaker, I regret that we are once again having to debate the issue of time allocation because, to me, the real and significant issue is whether the bill is properly before this House to begin with. I say that because the government has a responsibility under section 4.1 of the Department of Justice Act to examine any prospective legislation in order to determine whether it comports with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and to report any inconsistency to the House at the first convenient opportunity.

Experts have said that this legislation is “littered with charter violations” and the government itself had to repeal one of the provisions regarding warrantless and unreviewable mandatory detention since it probably began to appreciate that was the case.

How could this bill have been introduced with that provision to begin with? Did the government ever examine the constitutionality of this legislation and whether it comported with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? When will it report to the House at the first available opportunity the results of such an examination and whether it indeed is consistent with the charter?

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

Conservative

Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB

Madam Speaker, of course such an analysis was done. On legal advice received, the government has always been of the view that this bill complies with the charter and that it is a reasonable effort to achieve a necessary public policy objective, which is to deter human smugglers from targeting Canada.

With respect to detention, I will just get this on the record, as there has been a lot of misunderstanding about it. Immigration detention is not imprisonment. It allows detainees to leave Canada at any time they choose. Most of the migrants who have come here through smuggling networks have passed through and, therefore, have visas for several countries to which they could freely return.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings at this time and put forthwith the question on the motion now before the House. The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

Bill C-31—Time allocation motionProtecting Canada's Immigration System ActGovernment Orders

10:45 a.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

All those opposed will please say nay.