Debates of May 28th, 2014

Ethics

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, those are problems with municipal and provincial contracts. At the same time, it is very important that the commission continue its work.

If the Leader of the Opposition, 20 years ago, had had the courage to come forward with the fact that he was offered a bribe and had not actually hidden it for 17 years, I can only imagine the corruption we could have put a stop to if he had just had the courage, 20 years ago, to come forward, instead of hiding it for 17 years.

We will continue to put taxpayers first in everything we do on this side.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

Mr. Speaker, give me a break. We are talking about contracts between SNC-Lavalin and the federal government.

Last March, Public Works and Government Services Canada changed its procurement policies to avoid doing business with companies that have been found guilty of fraud or bribery. However, SNC-Lavalin executives and police told the Charbonneau commission that SNC-Lavalin had defrauded Quebec taxpayers and paid bribes to win the contract to build the McGill hospital centre.

SNC-Lavalin is now famous for its role in the biggest corruption fraud in the history of Canada.

Can the government confirm that the new rules will apply to SNC-Lavalin?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and for Intergovernmental Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, once again, these problems do not involve the federal government. This commission is investigating provincial and municipal affairs.

At the same time, anybody who is found guilty should face the full force of the law. As you know, Mr. Speaker, one of the first acts this government brought forward when it was elected was the Federal Accountability Act, which removed the influence of big money and big unions from federal contracting.

We will continue to put taxpayers first by bringing in laws like that, which protect Canadian taxpayers.

Justice

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, former Supreme Court justice John Major is shaking his head at the Conservative kerfuffle over the appointment of Justice Nadon.

He is especially critical of the politicization of the process and the direct attack against the Chief Justice, who was only doing her job in warning the Prime Minister. Instead of attacking the Chief Justice, the Prime Minister should do some soul-searching.

When will he admit that he alone is responsible for this fiasco?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I notice that former Supreme Court Justice, Mr. Justice Major, has added his name to other former justices from the Supreme Court, Justice Binnie and Justice Charron, in disagreeing with the Supreme Court on eligibility.

Of course, we also know that constitutional expert Peter Hogg disagreed. We sought advice and followed that advice, in fact. Of course, of all Federal Court judges themselves who had applied, some were listed on the eligibility list. The member opposite was part of that process.

We will support and follow the letter and the spirit of the Supreme Court.

[Françoise Boivin, NDP, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, according to former justice Major, the Conservative kerfuffle is compounded by the fact that the Prime Minister once again has the wrong people around him.

Justice Major says that the current Minister of Justice is a lightweight when it comes to justice. That explains why this appointment is such a fiasco. That is not very flattering.

Why did the Conservatives not listen to Quebec's recommendations before appointing Justice Nadon?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, I recently had a productive meeting with Quebec's justice minister, Ms. Vallée, and representatives of Quebec's legal community.

As usual, we are consulting a wide range of stakeholders. We will not comment on rumours, speculation or comments made by former Supreme Court justices. We have been very clear: we will respect the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court decision.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, they do not listen to anyone, and that is the problem.

We have ever-changing stories from the Prime Minister and his Minister of Justice.

When the decision of the Supreme Court came down, the Prime Minister claimed he was “very surprised” but this week he tells us he knew all along.

The Conservatives have targeted Kevin Page, Sheila Fraser, Marc Mayrand and now even the Chief Justice. In short, any eminent Canadian who disagrees with them.

Why has the Prime Minister gone so far out of his way to pick a fight with the Supreme Court of Canada?

[Peter MacKay, Conservative, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, that is patently false. We have nothing but the utmost respect for the Supreme Court as well as all of the institutions of the country. That is why we want people with merit, people with judicial excellence, to fill the positions, particularly at the Supreme Court of Canada.

We acted on the advice of legal experts, including former justices of the Supreme Court. We have listened to the Supreme Court's ruling with respect to eligibility specific to the province of Quebec. That is a new interpretation from the original act.

As the Prime Minister has said, we will respect the spirit and the letter of the Supreme Court's decision.

Citizenship and Immigration

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-24 opens a Pandora's box. It will give foreign courts the right to put the citizenship of Canadians in jeopardy, with no legislative guarantee that the process is fair. For example, how can the minister justify to members of Canada's Tamil community that their citizenship would be in jeopardy if they were found guilty in a Sri Lankan court?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is absolutely wrong.

Our citizenship and immigration bill will strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship by tightening requirements. This means that new Canadians must reside in Canada, fulfill the citizenship criteria and live in accordance with Canada's values and laws.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration has a problem getting his facts right. It was his—

[Some hon. members]

Oh! oh!

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. member for Vancouver Centre has the floor.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Mr. Speaker,—every LGBTTQ equality legislation brought forward by the last Liberal government, from amending the Canadian Human Rights Act all the way to gay marriage.

Despite his assurances to use his power to make the WorldPride Human Rights Conference in Toronto a success, he still will not say if he will okay visitor visas for 10 Ugandan gay rights activists—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. The hon. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

It is astonishing, Mr. Speaker, that former ministers would stand in this place and ask the Minister of Immigration to give a decision in this place about individual immigration cases. That member knows very well that that authority is delegated to highly trained professionals around the world. She knew that when her party was in government. It is not a surprise that her party is not in government now given that those members deny these things.

We will continue to stand up for human rights around the world. We will continue to insist that governments in Uganda and elsewhere respect human rights regardless of sexual orientation. We will use our immigration laws to make this conference a success.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for years the Ontario Liberal government has made it clear that it needs the federal government to raise the targets on to the provincial nominee program. Unfortunately, the Conservative government continues to undermine Ontario's economic potential by limiting it to 2,500 applicants per year. Even Tim Hudak now says that Canada's immigration minister is being grossly unfair to Ontario.

Is the minister just incompetent or can he explain why he has so stubbornly refused to help Ontario's economy?

[Chris Alexander, Conservative, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to answer that question because it gives me a chance to remind voters in Ontario that under the Liberal government before 2006 the number for the provincial nominee program from Ontario was zero. The program when we came into office brought 6,000 new Canadians to this country. This year it is bringing 46,000. We doubled the number for Ontario.

What shows disrespect to the taxpayers of Ontario is spending Ontario taxpayers' hard-earned dollars on failed and bogus refugee claimants. That is what is driving us crazy in Ontario. That is why we need a new—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Order. We will move on to the hon. member for St. John's East.

National Defence

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Speaker, members of the Canadian Armed Forces who have faced sexual assault know that this issue requires an admission that we have a problem and an urgent response. So far, we have neither.

Reports to the minister are three years behind, even though they are required by law, and they bury the numbers for sexual assault. The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Tom Lawson, said it will take one to two months even to find someone to lead an investigation.

When will the minister stop washing his hands and passing the buck to the military, take responsibility, and appoint an independent judicial inquiry?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, during our eight years, we have always taken responsibility in this area. Any of these allegations are truly disturbing. No member of the armed forces should ever be subject to this kind of disgusting behaviour.

The Chief of the Defence Staff is going to be conducting a study of this, an investigation into this. This government has zero tolerance for that kind of behaviour.

[Christine Moore, NDP, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what is even more worrisome about the management of the allegations of sexual assault in the armed forces is the lack of leadership shown by successive Conservative defence ministers.

The situation is even worse than we thought. The Department of National Defence is three years behind in reporting its crime statistics to Parliament. An external audit will not do.

The minister needs to step up and stop passing the buck to the Chief of Defence Staff. When will he appear before the committee and appoint a judicial inquiry to look into these serious allegations?

[Rob Nicholson, Conservative, Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, as soon as we have the reports from the Judge Advocate General, of course, we will table them.

This has been a priority throughout our years. We have stood up for those who have been victims of sexual assault. We never got support from the NDP. If the member and her party have changed their minds, stand up and start supporting our efforts to protect the innocent.

The Environment

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives will stop at nothing to hide the impacts of climate change. After trying to muzzle scientists, now the Conservatives are saying that meteorologists at Environment Canada are not qualified to talk about climate change.

If those who study weather patterns are not qualified to talk about climate change, then who is?