House of Commons Hansard #126 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was project.
Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to inform the House that there are currently 63 investigations under way concerning over 100 individuals. Why? Because Parliament passed a law to fight terrorism. Why is it that the NDP never supports the anti-terrorism measures put in place by the government?
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, instead of rhetoric, I think the minister should focus on doing his job in stopping terrorists who are radicalizing Canadian children.
It is a very simple question here. Why did we learn today about new terrorist threats to Canadians from American intelligence and not from the officials who came before the public safety committee yesterday?
Steven Blaney ConservativeMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Mr. Speaker, Canadians can rely on the intelligence of their law enforcement community and their national public safety community to keep them safe.
That being said, we have to be vigilant, because there is a threat. That is why this government is sending troops and planes abroad to combat terrorism. We will make sure that while there are air strikes over there, we are keeping Canadians safe here.
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated that Ebola is an urgent global crisis that demands an urgent global response from the international community. The World Bank estimates that the Ebola crisis could cost $32 billion by the end of 2015.
Does the government intend to increase Canada's contribution to the World Health Organization in order to provide assistance that is commensurate with this crisis?
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, Canada has been at the forefront of the Ebola response since early April. As the member knows, we have invested funds. We have provided expertise and equipment. We continue to be in contact with the WHO to respond to any particular needs. We are funding the Red Cross, the Red Crescent, and Doctors Without Borders to help build health capacity and improve the on-the-ground treatment and prevention of Ebola.
We, of course, have two very highly specialized medical labs in the area, with our Health Canada scientists, and we will continue to respond to the WHO.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, there is more Canada could be doing now to help the Ebola response, but the government has not even delivered on its earlier promises. The experimental Ebola vaccine still has not left Canada, and trials still have not started. In fact, the Conservatives persist in blaming the WHO, but it is not responsible for the delays. The commercialization of the vaccine is held by an American company, despite what the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Why has the government done nothing to get the Ebola vaccine moving?
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of Health
Mr. Speaker, I would recommend that the member get her information about the vaccine that was created here in Canada by the Public Health Agency directly from the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, who has told me directly that the vaccine supply we have, which has been given to the WHO, is in Winnipeg still, because the WHO has not decided when and if it will distribute it.
It has been very generously donated to the WHO, and we hope it is able to use it.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, the minister seems to think that a donation means that we then have nothing more to do with the matter. The fact is, and I will quote from a WHO press release—
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Order. The hon. member for Vancouver East still has the floor.
Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC
Mr. Speaker, I will quote from the WHO press release from October 1. It says:
The license for commercialization of the Canadian vaccine is held by an American company, the NewLink Genetics company, located in Ames, Iowa.
Is the Prime Minister saying that the WHO is not telling the truth, or is it just the minister?
Rona Ambrose ConservativeMinister of Health
No, Mr. Speaker. In fact, the member has her facts completely wrong. She is dealing with two completely different issues.
In terms of the commercialization of the vaccine, that company is working very hard to have clinical trials sped up, and they hope to see the vaccine commercialized by December and hopefully available to the general public, if needed. The doses we have given to the WHO are owned by us. They are in Winnipeg. We have generously given them to the WHO for use.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, with the latest unemployment figures showing 112,000 lost jobs, and Canada's latest monthly economic growth at zero, what does the government plan to put in its next omnibus budget bill?
Well, first, there is an EI scheme that the Parliamentary Budget Officer says will actually kill 9,200 jobs, and second, there is another scheme authorizing the swiping of television news programs for use in political attack ads. Why is the government perverting a budget bill to legitimize illegal behaviour?
Kevin Sorenson ConservativeMinister of State (Finance)
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage the member for Wascana to wait patiently. As we travel across this country, we will be consulting with Canadians as to what goes in next year's budget bill, but there is one thing we can be certain of. With all the good measures we bring forward to help lower taxes, to create jobs, and to increase skills development, we can be certain that the opposition will continue, as in the past, to vote against all those measures.
Ralph Goodale Liberal Wascana, SK
Mr. Speaker, artists looking for copyright changes have been told to wait until 2017, but the Conservative Party gets served right now, this fall, by a copyright change bootlegged into a omnibus bill. Journalists will have their news content taken—they would say stolen—without permission or remuneration, and then they will be forced to broadcast their own stuff in partisan attack ads. It is expropriation without compensation. It degrades integrity and freedom of the press. Why does the government behave like such a tinpot banana republic?
Shelly Glover ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, first, we are not going to comment on rumours and speculation. That said, our position has been very clear. There is a public interest in ensuring that politicians are accountable for their actions and accountable for what they say in public settings. Major television networks should not have the ability to censor what can and cannot be broadcast to Canadians. We believe that this has always been protected under the fair dealing provisions of the law, and if greater certainty is necessary, we will provide it.
Dominic LeBlanc Liberal Beauséjour, NB
Mr. Speaker, the government wants to wait until 2017 to change the Copyright Act to better protect the intellectual property of artists.
However, when the Conservative Party wants to change the legislation to steal the content of news agencies and artists for negative ads, the government obeys without hesitation.
Why do the Conservatives want to steal the property of shows like Tout le monde en parle and Larocque Lapierre for negative ads?
What kind of dishonesty does it have in store?
Shelly Glover ConservativeMinister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages
Mr. Speaker, as I just said, we are not going to comment on rumours or speculation. That said, our position has been clear all along.
The general public wants politicians to be accountable for what they do and say in public. Major television networks should not have the right to determine what can or cannot be broadcast to Canadians. We believe that this has always been protected under the fair dealing provisions of the law.
If greater certainty is needed, we will provide it.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, despite all the rhetoric about the urgency of joining air strikes in Iraq, we have now learned that it will take nearly a month for Canadian Forces to get there, and there is no confirmed place to stage our planes. We saw the same thing when we heard that the government deployed 69 military advisers, but only 26 were needed.
Why did the Conservatives use urgency as an excuse to cut short the debate on Iraq, when they are not ready to go?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, I am sure if the debate lasted 30 years it still would not get the support of the NDP. That being said, I can confirm for the House that just this morning we received approval from Kuwait to launch our planes from there, and I want to thank the Kuwaitis for their co-operation. This is just further evidence that the fight against ISIL is an international matter, and Canada, of course, will do its part.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, while the minister might want to laugh about the seriousness of this issue, we take it very seriously on this side. It is not just the logistics—
The Speaker Conservative Andrew Scheer
Order, please. The hon. member for Ottawa Centre still has the floor.
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, just look at them.
It is not just that the logistics of sending Canadian planes are still being figured out; it is the combat plan as well. It has been reported that the government has not yet decided whether its policy will be to “assert a legal basis for bombing targets in Syria”, yet it has explicitly opened the door to bombing targets in Syria.
How can the Conservatives rationalize this war when they themselves cannot even figure out what they are doing or how to do it?
Rob Nicholson ConservativeMinister of National Defence
Mr. Speaker, we have been very clear, and in the motion before Parliament we have set out the timelines, we have set out the focus, and we have set out the mission.
If they were serious about this, they would have got on side with us this week and supported this measure. It was the right thing to do, and they did not do it.