Debates of Dec. 1st, 2016

Democratic Reform

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after six months of consulting and listening to people, careful consideration and a lot of hard work, the Special Committee on Electoral Reform finally landed on proportional representation.

Nobody thought it was possible, but we did it. All of the opposition parties agreed on where to go and how to get there. This is a great victory for everyone who believes that voting is important and that this Parliament should reflect the will of the people. People want their votes and their voices to count in this Parliament. That is what we are offering them, and it is what 89% of the experts and individuals told us during town halls.

The government seems to be taking a step back from this, but I hope the Liberals will take the committee's recommendations seriously. We are asking them to come up with an action plan. They can still keep their promise. We are trying to help them along. It is time to change our electoral system and ensure that every vote counts.

Public Safety

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Mr. Speaker, what took place in the House the other night made me sick. Bill S-217 aimed to toughen our bail laws after the tragic murder of RCMP Constable David Wynn. The Liberal government will not support this common-sense change.

The killer in this case had hundreds of charges against him, dozens of convictions, several jail terms, routinely did not show up for court, and he still had 29 outstanding charges against him, including weapons and drug bans, at the time he killed Constable Wynn. Had the judge known about his history, he would have not been on the streets.

My blood boils. Without improving the system, learning from our mistakes, we are destined to repeat history. I have no hesitation in saying that the next time this tragedy happens, the Liberal government will have blood on its hands.

Canadian Armed Forces

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the past few weeks have been difficult and stark reminders for all of us of the sacrifices members of the Canadian Armed Forces and their families make on our collective behalf. It cannot be understated how grateful we are in this place to each and every one them.

The decision to wear the uniform is one that our soldiers make with pride knowing the risks both at home and abroad. Each and every person who served our country honourably will forever be remembered as a Canadian hero.

Our Canadian heroes are not the only ones who serve of course. Often it is said that their families serve along with them. The pride we feel for our serving family member is immense. From one family member to another, our heart goes out to the families, friends, and colleagues grieving at this time.

I ask my parliamentary family to join me in honouring our fallen heroes.

Democratic Reform

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the report of the multi-party committee on democratic reform is in, and the recommendation is clear: If the Prime Minister wants to change the rules of democracy, then Canadians get to have a say in a referendum. This is a huge victory for democracy and a huge victory for Canadians.

Will the Prime Minister actually respect the recommendations in this report, and commit to holding a referendum if he wants to change the way we vote?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the members of the special committee for their time and effort in studying this.

We have received the report. I am going to review it carefully and I urge every member of the House to do the same. I know this was a challenging process, and the report shows just how challenging electoral reform can be, because the only consensus that the committee found was that there is no consensus on electoral reform. In the coming days, we will be taking specific actions to continue this conversation with Canadians.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the multi-party committee on electoral reform presented its report, and its recommendation is clear: if the Prime Minister wants to change the rules of democracy, Canadians must have their say in a referendum. This is a major victory for democracy.

Will the Prime Minister heed the committee's recommendation and commit to holding a referendum if he plans to change the voting system?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, we have received the report, and we encourage all members of the House to do the same. My first impressions are that there are some good ideas in there. For example, the only way that we can engage Canadians on their preference for an alternative to first past the post is through a values-based conversation. But on the main question and the hard choices that we asked the committee to make, the members of the committee took a pass. The NDP critic said, choose your own adventure.

I thank the committee members for their time, and we will continue this conversation—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The Leader of the Opposition.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, this is unbelievable. The multi-party committee spoke and it was clear, and Canadians have also spoken, that a referendum needs to be held. The only thing that we are hearing from the other side is that the Prime Minister thinks he is smarter than Canadians and that only he can decide how we vote and what our vote means. That is an insult to every Canadian in this country. If he wants to change the way we vote, he has to have a referendum.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

To the contrary, Mr. Speaker, our Prime Minister asked that we bring together a special committee to study the options available to us and to recommend a specific system as an alternative to first past the post. We asked the committee to help answer very difficult questions for us. It did not do that. We now have to make those hard changes, and I am looking forward to continuing this conversation with Canadians.

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, the insults just keep coming from the other side of the House. Every opposition party worked together, worked hard, and came to a consensus.

The problem here is that the Prime Minister does not want to listen to Canadians and he does not want to listen to the other parties, just like he will not have a referendum because he thinks that Canadians are not smart enough, that they are not as smart as he is to pick the kind of system that we are to rely on. The Prime Minister is wrong. Canadians are smart enough to cast a vote.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are smart, reasonable people and we are doing this for them.

The committee did not offer a specific alternative to first past the post. Instead, it offered us the Gallagher index. So the hon. member wants us to have a referendum on the following: Would Canadians like to take the square root of the sum of the squares of the difference between the percentage of the seats for each party and the percentage of the votes passed?

Health

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, World AIDS Day is when we show our support for those living with HIV and AIDS. But the Prime Minister is planning to cut funding to many community-based organizations, including the Canadian AIDS Society and the All Nations Hope Network, the only aboriginal AIDS network in Saskatchewan. It is on the front lines fighting against HIV/AIDS, and it may be forced to close its doors.

Instead of just raising flags on World AIDS Day, will the Prime Minister commit to stable, long-term funding for these important organizations?

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the government is deeply committed to addressing HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C in Canada, with community-based organizations being central to this. The funding we provide through the community action fund remains steady at $26.4 million annually. While 124 organizations were successful in the application process, some were not, which is why the Minister of Health has asked the Public Health Agency to assist these impacted organizations by working with them to extend transitional funding for another year.

Democratic Reform

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, after six months of hard work, the electoral reform committee is proposing a proportional system. This is a great victory for all Canadians who are fed up with our outdated and unfair system.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister promised to put an end to the current system.

Can we count on the Liberal government to act on the committee's recommendations to implement a proportional system?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for his passion and the committee for the time it spent studying alternatives to first past the post.

When we made the commitment to introduce a new option, we did so based on the understanding that a committee would come together and recommend alternatives to first past the post, that it would help us answer the difficult questions. Instead, what members across the aisle and the NDP critic have suggested is that we choose our own adventure. If we were going to choose our own adventure, why did we put together a committee to study electoral reform?

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if it looks like, if it smells like, it should be.

What part of “proportional” does the minister not understand? The minister responsible for democratic reform launched an online consultation that included questions like, “Do you like to take risks, or better the devil you know?”

Does this not undermine the colossal consultation work the committee has done over the past six months? Is the government going to listen to the recommendations of the committee and to the hopes—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please.

The hon. Minister of Democratic Institutions.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the committee for its hard work. We will be reviewing the committee's report and I urge all members to do the same.

Complementary to the work of the committee, to the outreach that my parliamentary secretary and I have done, we committed to introducing another channel to hear from Canadians. This new digital initiative, which the member opposite has not yet even seen, so I am not sure what he is referring to in his question, will include an invitation to every Canadian. Canadians can expect their invitations in the mail this Monday.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, there is another channel. It sounds like they are trying to change the channel.

What a day. I would like to start by thanking all the members of the committee for their incredible work. We managed to do something that has never been done before. Skeptics said that it would all fall apart, that there was simply no way forward to finding agreement among all of these parties, and yet Canadians defied the cynics and told us, in overwhelming numbers, that they wanted a proportional voting system. That is a good day for Canada.

Can the minister tell us when the government will announce a clear plan and timetable to implement all of the committee's recommendations?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I would like thank the NDP critic for his work on the committee and his continued commitment to strengthening our democratic institutions.

I have to admit that I am a little disappointed, because what we had hoped the committee would provide us with was a specific alternative system to first past the post. Instead, it provided us with the Gallagher index. While it did not complete the hard work we had expected it to, this is consistent with what we heard from Canadians. We will continue—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. We are taking up time from question period.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I appreciate the feedback, but the committee worked together. The committee worked across party lines. The committee reflected back what it heard from Canadians. That may be a bit of a radical notion for some of my Liberal colleagues, but that was the work of the committee, and the work of the minister is to fulfill the promise of the Prime Minister when he stood in front of Canadians on multiple occasions and said that 2015 was going to be the last election under first past the post.

The minister's job is to work with the rest of us and work with Canadians to achieve that goal, rather than throwing on skepticism, rather than heaping on false notions of broad support. We wonder where the Liberals' broad support was when they declared war and announced pipeline recommendations. Let us get the job done for Canadians.

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member has a point. There were some good recommendations in the report. For example, the best way to have a conversation with Canadians about their electoral system is through a values-based approach.

To that end, we will be continuing this conversation with Canadians through a digital initiative. Members of the House are expected to allow their constituents to know that it is happening and ensure that their voices are heard. We will be introducing recommendations to the House based on all the feedback we receive.