Debates of Dec. 1st, 2016

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Question No. 542

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

With regard to charitable and political tax credits administered by the Canada Revenue Agency and Elections Canada: (a) what is the annual cost of administering the Charitable Donations Tax Credit, including staff salaries, program administration, and the tax credits themselves; (b) what is the annual cost of administering the Political Contributions Tax Credit, including staff salaries, program administration, and the tax credits themselves; (c) how many Canadians claimed the Charitable Donations Tax Credit, broken down by year from 2012 to present and by contribution amounts (i) less than $400, (ii) between $401 and $750, (iii) more than $751; (d) how many Canadians claimed the Political Contributions Tax Credit, broken down by year from 2012 to present and by contribution amounts (i) less than $400, (ii) between $401 and $750, (iii) more than $751; and (e) what is the income quintile of each person and the credit they claimed in (c) and (d)?

(Return tabled)

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would ask that the remaining questions be allowed to stand.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Opposition Motion — Cuba

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Today being the last allotted day for the supply period ending December 10, 2016, the House will proceed as usual to the consideration and passage of the appropriation bills. In view of recent procedures, do hon. members agree to have the bill distributed now?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. member for Thornhill.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

moved:

That, in light of the regrettable comments made by the Prime Minister on behalf of Canadians on the death of Fidel Castro, and in an effort to send a clear signal to Cuban people and the international community that his comments do not reflect the true sentiments of Canadians, the House: (a) reject the comments made by the Prime Minister on November 26, 2016; (b) recognize the past atrocities and repression borne by the Cuban people under the rule of Fidel Castro, including his long and oppressive regime of imprisoning critics and reported beatings during arrest, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and the suffering and restrictions placed on the press, minorities, and the democratic process, including the LGBT community; and (c) express its hope and full support for the people of Cuba, that they may now begin to see freedom and a commitment to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, in order to ensure a brighter and better future for the Cuban people now and for generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Calgary Shepard.

The debate on the motion before us today will enable members of all parties in the House to send a clear message to all of the people of Cuba, as well as to the international community, our democratic allies, and Canadians whose true sentiments are not reflected in the Prime Minister's regrettable condolences regarding Castro.

The Prime Minister, in expressing his personal sorrow at the passing of Cuba's communist dictator, made no mention at all of the Cubans whom Castro executed, imprisoned, tortured, and oppressed. The outrageously affectionate and nostalgic statement may be attributed to the PM's romanticized family connections; perhaps because of a shallow familiarity with Cuban history; perhaps due to the fact that he has never met a victim of Castro's tyranny; or, that he, on his recent quick trip to Havana, was wined and dined by Cuba's communist 1%, and that the representatives of civil society whom he met were not representative of Cuba's long-suffering, impoverished, under-employed, and oppressed society.

Today, we will remind our Liberal colleagues not of an idealized, cherry-picked, or confected Cuban history, but the facts.

It is true that Fidel Castro was a revolutionary hero. He overthrew a corrupt, brutal military dictator, Fulgencio Batista. But then Castro betrayed the Cuban people and rival rebel groups that had shared the revolution's victory. There were firing squads, prisons, and re-education camps for decades. Then armed and emboldened as a proxy of the Soviet Union, Castro enabled the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, which precipitated one of the most perilous moments of the Cold War. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s the Cuban dictator exported revolution widely. Castro sent tens of thousands of his soldiers to fight in a variety of Marxist revolutions and wars in Angola, Congo, Bolivia, Ethiopia, North Vietnam, to Syria and Egypt against Israel, and to Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The Prime Minister said in his overwrought condolences of last weekend that Castro made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation. Well, he did. Cuba has a world-class literacy rate and a health care system that is the envy of the developing world, but that is within and under the oppressive confines of a repressive communist regime. Doctors and nurses very often work part-time in unskilled jobs that pay better than their professional state wages. The Cuban education system is also notable for hosting revolutionaries from across the Americas and the Caribbean over the decades, providing technical and military training, propaganda skills, and political indoctrination.

That brings us to the fact that while educated and healthy, the literate, fine-fettled people of Cuba are brutally denied freedom of speech and freedom of association. Religion was banned for decades, and though recently restored, religious rights are very tightly controlled. The Communist Party of Cuba controls the army, all government offices, most civil institutions, all media organizations, schools, and universities, and even the official rigidly controlled gay rights organization. I will have more about that in a moment.

Although prisons today hold far fewer political prisoners than in previous decades, heavy-handed restrictions remain on any independent non-communist-approved organizations, unions, human rights groups, or political parties. Members associated with these groups are now the most often detained citizens. The systematic repression, for example, of Cuba's Damas de Blanco, Ladies in White, continues today. These are women, peaceful civil rights and human rights protestors, who regularly assemble silently in Havana's public spaces, where they are also regularly brutally harassed and detained or driven far into the countryside and dumped by the roadside.

I would like to speak now to the fact that Canada is one of only two countries that did not participate in the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Governments, both Liberal and Conservative, constructively engaged with Castro's communist government, albeit Pierre Trudeau's Liberals were flamboyantly and much more passionately and ideologically committed.

Canadian business and industry were allowed to participate in joint partnership with Cuban state enterprises, for example, in mining and tourism and services, partnerships that for decades were mutually beneficial. Sherrit International Corporation has been the largest Canadian investor, operating 50% jointly owned nickel mines in Moa, Cuba, and smelting and refining operations in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. However, in recent years, the investment climate in Cuba has changed for many Canadians and other international investors.

The Prime Minister said in his sorrowful tribute to the dictator Fidel on Saturday that it had been an “honour” to meet his brother two weeks prior, the successor dictator, and equally or perhaps even more ruthless, Raúl.

While the Cuban government has aggressively promoted new business opportunities in recent years, President Raúl Castro has launched a so-called anti-corruption campaign, using Cuban interior ministry forces, a secret police force modelled on the East German Stasi, to crack down not only on domestic Cuban corruption but also effectively steal foreign companies and their assets.

A constituent of mine, a businessman engaged in joint partnerships with the Cuban government for decades, who was even given awards of excellence by President Fidel, was detained under house arrest in 2011, including then in the notorious La Condesa prison outside Havana for more than three years, many of those years without formal charges. I visited the prison. It was a terrible place. He professed to his innocence throughout, despite intimidation and psychological torture. He was eventually convicted in a rigged trial on a range of flawed corruption charges, sentenced to 15 years in prison, with his $100 million in companies and assets seized, and then suddenly deported back to Canada, to Thornhill, because the bad publicity was hurting Cuba's investment campaign.

His is not the only cautionary tale for any Canadian considering investment in Cuba or joining in partnership with Cuban state enterprises. My colleagues across the House who are looking for Christmas gift reading might consider another similar equally outrageous true story of British businessman Stephen Purvis. His book Close But No Cigar has just been published and is available through Amazon U.K. The dustcover states quite accurately, “As tourists flock to Havana”, like our Prime Minister, for example, “to marvel at a city frozen in time, [Purvis] shows that despite reforms and international reconciliation the Castro regime remains a corrupt, dictatorial” regime. The book could also be relevant reading for those Canadians whose Cuban experience is limited to the cheap sand-and-sea resort bubbles, and who, like the Prime Minister, may have a romanticized perception of the regime.

I said I would return to the Castro regime's state-controlled gay community. Cuba no longer puts LGBT people in labour camps, as the communist regime did in the 1960s and 1970s, but publicly manifested homosexuality remains illegal, except and unless LGBT people are vetted and accepted as loyal communist revolutionaries. Raúl Castro's daughter Mariela is the director of the state-run Cuban National Center for Sex Education, and patron of the annual Havana pride parade. However, this event is a propaganda device, a tool designed to misportray a modern socially liberated Cuba.

I would be glad to address any number of questions in the moments that follow. However, in conclusion, I would like to offer a much better example of what the Prime Minister might have said last Saturday, using the template of Prime Minister Harper's statement on the passing of Venezuela's Marxist strongman president, Hugo Chávez, who was a protege of Fidel. If we substitute Castro for Chávez, this is how Saturday's statement could have read: “I would like to offer my condolences to the people of Cuba on the passing of President Castro. Canada looks forward to working with his successor and other leaders in the region to build a hemisphere that is more prosperous, secure and democratic.” Then our Liberal Prime Minister, speaking truly on behalf of all Canadians, could have said, “I hope the people of Cuba can now build for themselves a brighter, better future, based on the principles of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.”

With that, I echo the thrust of the motion before us today in calling on the House to reject the comments made by the Prime Minister on November 26, 2016.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his speech. However, what struck me the most is what he said at the end about his hope that Cubans will be able to pursue a path towards democracy and respect for human rights.

Hope is not enough. We also need action. The Conservatives cut the budget of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which works specifically on protecting human rights across the Americas, particularly in Cuba.

The Conservatives say they want to protect human rights in Cuba, yet they cut resources to a well-known organization that does excellent work. There is not only a contradiction here, but also an element of cynicism.

Would my colleague like to comment on that?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I must say that I pause and can only wonder at what the statement of condolences might have read like, had the NDP had the pen.

In answer to the question about Rights and Democracy, during our Conservative government, it was found that the organization, which was originally a worthy organization championing human rights around the world, had become very dysfunctional. There were financial management issues, and questions about the appropriate relationships of some members of Rights and Democracy with some unsavoury organizations and regimes around the world. It was decided that the organization had had its time, and it was closed down.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the major priority for us should be the Cuban people. To antagonize or ratchet up the rhetoric now in an effort to score political points, I would suggest would not advance the Cuban society today or the Cuban society we are working to achieve for the Cuban people tomorrow. My question to the member is related to this issue.

If the issue is that of the Cuban people, as we believe it is on this side of the House, how does the opposition feel that attempting to antagonize the situation is healthy for the people of Cuba today?

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I know that there are a number of members of the Liberal government who were as outraged as those on this side of the House as those around the world, and certainly those in Cuba who are still under the communist boot of oppression, that there was not a single word about the Cuban people in that statement.

The relationship with Fidel was glorified. The meeting with Raúl was described as an honour, and this man is even more ruthless than his brother, and has reversed some of the minor improvements in human rights on the island that Fidel brought in.

I would suggest that my colleague should perhaps go back and take a look at that statement, and then look at the statement made by Prime Minister Harper on the death of that other dictator in the Americas, Hugo Chávez, which were much more appropriate remarks.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Thornhill for his contributions and his introduction to this debate. He has made a lot of great points. This is an important motion we have before us today. It shows how poor the Prime Minister's judgment has been with the statement he issued upon Fidel Castro's death.

Furthermore, when I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs earlier this week why the Prime Minister was an apologist for dictators and why he was not saying more about empowering the Cuban people, he told me I should learn Spanish. That was his answer.

When the Prime Minister went sunbathing recently in Cuba, he had an opportunity to speak up about democracy. He ever so briefly mentioned human rights. I actually took the time to listen to the entire transcript, and “democracy” never left his lips when speaking to students at a Havana university.

Let us compare that to what the U.S. president, Barack Obama, said when he was there visiting in March 2016. That transcript is fully available on the state department's website. According to that transcript he said “We continue, as President Castro indicated, to have some very serious differences, including on democracy and human rights”.

He went on to say further to describe these. He said:

...the United States will continue to speak up on behalf of democracy, including the right of the Cuban people to decide their own future. We’ll speak out on behalf of universal human rights, including freedom of speech and assembly and religion. Indeed, I look forward to meeting with and hearing from Cuban civil society leaders tomorrow.

The Prime Minister did none of this when he was there. “Democracy” did not even leave his lips. Perhaps he did not want to insult the Castro family, with whom he shares such a close relationship.

President Barack Obama continued by saying, “I’m very pleased that we’ve agreed to hold our next U.S.-Cuba human rights dialogue here in Havana this year”, none of which the Prime Minister said.

I wonder why the government continues to romanticize Cuba when even Tony Keller in The Globe and Mail called Cuba “the East Berlin of the Caribbean”, a fitting description, I believe, of what Cuba has become under Fidel.

Mr. Castro and his best buddy Che Guevara were murderers, oppressors as bad as Batista, and let us not forget both of them brought the world closer to nuclear war than it has ever been since. Just as one cannot kill one's way to a better society, one cannot praise murderous dictators when they die, especially when they die in the comfort of their own bed, surrounded by their family, unlike their many victims.

I remember the sanctimonious advice I got from the Minister of Foreign Affairs about being stuck in the past, so let us only talk about the very recent two years.

According the a U.S. Department of State report on Cuba's human rights record, the Communist Party is “the only legal party”, and all candidates for political office must be pre-approved. It pointed out that when the United States re-established relations with Cuba, the regime at first released 53 political prisoners, six of whom would later be rearrested and given even longer prison sentences for their human rights activism. When Fidel Castro handed over power to his brother, 50 other political prisoners who had been held since 2003, for being accused of being mercenaries in the employ of the United States government, were then released on the sole condition that they be exiled to Spain. These included human rights defenders, trade unionists, journalists, and many other critics of the Castro regime.

In that same U.S. state department report it goes on to enumerate the many human rights violations of the Castro regime. It talked about the use of government threats, physical assault, intimidation, violence organized by the government, counter-protests against peaceful dissent, harassment and detentions to prevent free expression, and peaceful assembly. It goes on to describe harsh prison conditions, arbitrary short-term politically motivated detentions and arrests, selective prosecution, denial of fair trial, and travel restrictions.

On trials, it says they bring people in and try them on the same day, with spurious evidence, basically no evidence, and throw people into prison, still today, under the new Castro regime. It is the basic continuation of what they had started 30 or 40 years ago.

The report goes on to state:

The government did not respect freedom of speech and press, restricted internet access, maintained a monopoly on media outlets, circumscribed academic freedom, and maintained some restrictions on the ability of religious groups to meet and worship. The government refused to recognize independent human rights groups or permit them to function legally. In addition the government continued to prevent workers from forming independent unions and otherwise exercising their...rights.

Fidel Castro also did not deliver a better Cuba. It is a myth, one perpetuated by uneducated media and apologists for the Castro regime, like our Prime Minister.

Consider education for a moment. A study by Jorge Salazar-Carrillo and Andro Nodarse-Leon entitled “Cuba: From Economic Take-Off to Collapse Under Castro” pointed out that in 1954 Cuba spent 4.1% of its GDP on education, higher than the United States at the time. It had a higher literacy rate and a higher women participation rate compared to other Latin American countries. Cuba does not participate in any international metrics on education, including the international mathematics and science survey. It does not participate in the program of international student assessment, also called PISA. On health care, Cuba in 1957 had more doctors per 1,000 people than Norway, Sweden, and Great Britain. In the 1950s, Cuba had a longer life expectancy rate and the lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America.

These authors were comparing Cuba to other similar Latin American countries.

They also said pre-revolutionary Cuba had a GDP per capita of $2,363. That was middle of the pack at the time, compared to other Latin American countries. Post-revolutionary Cuba by 2008 when Fidel stepped down had a GDP per capita of barely $3,764, barely an improvement over every single other country in the region. Now Cuba is in the bottom one-third compared to other Latin American countries when it is compared to similar types of countries.

Cuban physicians still today are routinely sent overseas. Cuba gets hard currency in return for these Cuban physicians serving overseas. Cuba gets a cut of the doctors' salaries and then the doctors get paid in Cuban pesos, which are almost worthless.

We could blame the American embargo for the lack of improvements on social programs, but was communism not supposed to provide for self-sufficiency? I was born in a communist country. I do not remember fleeing the free education and free health care that was afforded there. I distinctly remember my parents leaving because of the political and religious oppression.

If communism works so splendidly, should Cuba not have developed vast resources with the help of the Soviet Union, which considered Cuba an ally in its overview, and its overlords, the Castros?

The Salazar-Carrillo and Nodarse-Leon report on Cuba dispelled that contrived myth that the Castros did anything other than impoverish Cubans while enriching themselves. There are now two million Cuban Americans, Cubans who fled mostly to Florida.

South Florida has become a vibrant community directly because of the terror that the Castros spread, that they levied against the Cubans. Tens of thousands who braved choppy seas, rickety rafts, and uncertain treatment by the U.S. coast guard were not fleeing free education or free health care. They were fleeing the terror being spread by the communist Castro regime of Cuba.

In a Human Rights Watch report in January 2016 it says, “The Cuban government continues to repress dissent and discourage public criticism. It now relies less on long-term prison sentences to punish its critics,” that is a bonus, “but short-term arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders, independent journalists, and others have increased dramatically in recent years. Other repressive tactics employed by the government include beatings, public acts of shaming, and the termination of employment.... Prisoners are forced to work 12-hour work days and punished if they do not meet production quotas, according to former political prisoners” who fled to western countries.

What I find most grating about the statement that the Prime Minister issued is when I compare Cuba to other countries. The only one I will be able to use is comparative statements by dictator Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who said that Cuba has “thus become a beacon for the liberation of the peoples of the South American countries and others around the world.” He said, “The name Fidel Castro will live forever in the minds of generations and remain an inspiration for all the peoples who aspire to achieve real independence and liberation from the yoke of colonialism and hegemony”.

When I have a hard time saying whether this statement was by Bashar al-Assad of Syria or the Canadian government, there is something deeply wrong. The member for Thornhill had a perfect example of what should have been done. A statement that emphasizes empowering the Cuban people, defending democracy, and promoting human rights and the rule of law is the right way to go. We must vote for this motion and retract that statement by the Prime Minister.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this would be comical if it were not so sad.

I hear my Conservative colleagues talking about the human rights situation in Cuba, which, yes, definitely needs some major improvements. There are some serious problems there. However, what did the Conservatives do when they were in power? I will tell you what they did. They cut funding to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

They cut funding to an organization that works specifically on defending human rights across the Americas, including in Cuba.

Does my colleague think that makes sense?

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Laurier—Sainte-Marie. I greatly appreciate the work that she does at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development with my Conservative colleagues.

As she surely knows, I was not a member of Parliament in 2015. I therefore was never part of the Conservative government and I have never been a cabinet member. Accordingly, I am unaware of the details related to this group whose funding was cut.

We are talking about a motion on what the Prime Minister said about Mr. Castro. We are not talking about a group whose funding was reduced or eliminated. We can only make changes for the future. It is up to the current government to reverse past decisions. That is something it has done quite a bit, in fact.

What we want to do is decide whether we are siding with the Cuban people or with the government of Mr. Castro today. What can we do to help the Cuban people?

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

As the hon. member knows, Canada has shown its concern for the Cuban people on many occasions. This concern has been expressed repeatedly because Liberal prime ministers of Canada have gone to Cuba to talk about democratization of that country and human rights. They always tried to promote Canadian values, as we do around the world, and as Mr. Pearson did in the case of the Suez Canal.

We believe that we must engage with other regimes, even those we do not care for very much.

Does the hon. member not believe that the traditional Liberal policy of engaging with people and promoting the Canadian values of human rights abroad is the right approach in this case?

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Gatineau.

I am going to repeat something that the former justice minister, Irwin Cotler, said when speaking about Cuba. He said that Cuba was one of the countries that could have never sat on the UN Human Rights Council because of its human rights violations.

That is what we must focus on. I believe that when we work with other governments it is important to put ourselves in the people's position and not the government's position. We should defend the opposition members when a government is dictatorial, authoritarian, and communist, rather than having discussions solely with the 1% who govern, as the member fromThornhill mentioned. We are on the side of democracy and of those who want democracy and the protection of human rights.

[Dianne Lynn Watts, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to note that when the Prime Minister spoke to the students at the University of Havana, the word “democracy” never left his mouth. I find it ironic when we look at his statement.

Obviously some members in the House support the statement, which never mentioned the Cuban people. If democracy is not mentioned, if the Cuban people are not mentioned, it makes one wonder why the Prime Minister was even there.

Could my colleague please comment on that?

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I will reply with a more personal anecdote. I have said this many times in the House before. My family fled Communist Poland. I was born in Poland and I fled here. Many of us consider Cuba to be the East Berlin of the Caribbean.

Had Poland been closer to the United States, maybe 50 kilometres off its shore, or 50 kilometres off the shore of Canada, we would have a very large Polish population in Canada and in the United States.

Nobody wants to live in such a country. Nobody wants to see foreign leaders going to those types of countries. When Margaret Thatcher went to Poland and criticized the Communist government, she really earned the title of “Iron Lady”. That was the type of leadership Polish people living in a communist regime wanted to see. That is the type of leadership Cubans want to see.

[Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister paid an official visit to Cuba on November 15 and 16, accompanied by the Minister of International Trade. This visit was the first by a sitting Canadian prime minister in nearly two decades. I am not sure why the previous prime minister did not visit in order to address the much-needed reforms so eloquently pointed out by my hon. colleagues.

By going to Cuba and meeting with officials, civil society, academics, and Cubans, the Prime Minister built on the already strong people-to-people ties that exist between the two countries. It is important to note at the outset that this work, and we are talking about the present and the future, while critical to accelerating our support for the Cuban people to chart a better, more prosperous and democratic future, is being built on a legacy of unbroken ties.

As my hon. colleague has suggested, this government is happy to talk about the future and the actions that we are taking. Canada has moved to a more prominent position on the world stage. This is where Canadians expect us to be.

During his visit, the Prime Minister was received by the Cuban Government and the Cuban people, affirming our historic relationship and our position as a determined peace builder, capable of building critical relationships with leaders to further Canadian interests. We are a trusted voice on the world stage precisely because we are not afraid to engage with the world. Canadians can be proud of their government because we are unafraid of raising tough issues directly.

In Cuba, the Prime Minister and the Cuban president discussed a wide range of issues, including our strong economic relationship, but also Canada's interest in collaborating with Cuba on inclusive and accountable governance, improving human rights and the rule of law, strengthening safety and security in the region, and addressing climate change.

Canada takes a comprehensive approach to its engagement with countries. Rather than subsume certain interests or concerns over others, Canada engages on every front, from development to diplomatic to commercial interests. We believe that is the only way to achieve real progress and ensure improvement in one area that is mutually reinforced in another.

I will now list a number of projects in areas of focus for this government, areas the Prime Minister worked hard to improve and expand upon during his most recent trip.

First, it is important to note that Canada is the western nation with the longest running development co-operation program in Cuba, appreciated every day by Cubans for its effectiveness, flexibility, and stability over the long term. Canada's development objective in Cuba is to improve the economic well-being of the most vulnerable Cubans through initiatives focused on increasing food security and stimulating economic growth.

I neglected to mention that I will be splitting my time. Mr. Speaker, with the member for Mississauga Centre.

These development objectives are highly relevant in light of Cuba's economic reforms. They are consistent with Canada's desire for a more prosperous society, one that raises the hopes of the Cuban people. I know that members opposite will agree with that. We work with Cuba to foster trade, support economic liberalization, and promote peaceful and sustainable democratic development.

Building on our long-standing collaboration, Canada and Cuba agreed to collaborate on a $6.5 million Canadian development co-operation project to increase food security in Cuba. The Prime Minister also acknowledged the launch of an International Development Research Centre program focused on research partnerships in agriculture, climate change, and economic growth. These programs will improve the livelihoods of many Cubans.

During the visit, Canada and Cuba agreed to work together to foster inclusive and accountable governance and to deepen co-operation on issues related to diversity and pluralism in society. These are the hallmarks of a democratic society.

They agreed to address climate change through the full and effective implementation of the Paris agreement, through smart agriculture and disaster risk reduction, and by exploring options for supporting Cuba's objectives for the greater use of renewable energy and clean technologies.

I will touch on the Prime Minister's visit and what he did when he was there. Youth is a significant priority for our government. During his visit, the Prime Minister gave a speech to the students at the University of Havana, as has already been remarked upon. He exchanged remarks with Cuban students, academics, and faculty that recognized both Cuba's achievements and challenges, similar to those faced in other countries around youth engagement, gender inequality, and climate change.

This was an opportunity to advocate Canadian values of diversity as a source of enrichment, respect for youth as a requirement for progress, and empowerment as a vehicle for improved governance. In this spirit, the Prime Minister encouraged Cuban youth to play a leadership role in their community through entrepreneurship and creativity.

While in Cuba, the Prime Minister hosted a round table discussion with members of Cuban civil society in order to have an open and frank discussion on the importance of human rights, pluralism, and diversity. Canada has sought to build bridges and encourage positive engagement with the Cuban people on contentious issues, ranging from human rights to gender equality and climate change.

Religious leaders, environmental organizations, journalists, filmmakers, and LGBT advocates were just a few of the members represented on the panel. The diversity of the group ensured the coverage of a broad range of topics, the amplification, and elevation of independent voices, and the importance of civil dialogue.

It was the Prime Minister's leadership, his visit, that enabled the dialogue and provided a remarkable platform for engagement on human rights issues. The issues raised by participants included sustainable economic development, racial equality, improvements to freedom of religion, and for LGBT rights, freedom of speech, teen pregnancy, and sexual and child abuse.

Participants thanked Canada for being a strategic ally for civil society. I would like to repeat that last point. Canada was thanked by civil society in Cuba for the great work it did in promoting human rights in their country. This is not the first time we have heard of this unique and powerful value that Canada brings to the table.

A few weeks before, in the same region, our Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Honduras and Guatemala, where he brought a leading human rights advocate to join him on the trip, and to see first hand how our government was shining a light on human rights, never shying away from the issues. That leader said that this government represented a sea change with regard to advocating for human rights.

With regard to gender, and to underscore Canada's commitment to gender equality, Mme. Grégoire Trudeau hosted a live broadcast panel on gender inequality issues, highlighting the benefits that accrued to society as a whole through increased respect for the rights of women and girls. Supporting gender equality and opportunities for women and girls is a priority for this government.

The panel presented a unique opportunity for panellists to share their professional and personal perspectives on issues ranging from barriers to achieving greater gender equality, challenges such as domestic violence, and the under-representation of women in some sectors of the economy in Cuba. During this visit, both sides agreed to strengthen efforts and work together more closely on gender equality, in bilateral and international efforts.

The Prime Minister believes that constructive engagement is the best approach to supporting peaceful pluralism, prosperity, and the brighter future for Cubans and people struggling for what we hold dear around the world. Engaging with Cuba not only supports Canada's trade and investment interests, it supports our efforts to strengthen prosperity, stability, and security in our hemisphere neighbourhood.

Our unbroken history of engagement places Canada in good stead at this time. Cuba is undergoing an important period of transition, one that may lead to greater prosperity and new opportunities for improvements to the economic and political situation of Cubans. By engaging with Cuba during this period of change, we hope to serve as a model of transparency, inclusiveness, and sustainable economic growth.

Certainly this benefits Cuba, but most important it benefits the Cuban people. The Prime Minister's visit to Cuba was a significant step forward in advancing Canadian foreign policy priorities, and will have long-term benefits for Canadians and Cubans.

[Tom Kmiec, Conservative, Calgary Shepard, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to one point the parliamentary secretary made. She said that this was a moment of transition. This is not a moment of transition. Raul Castro is now the dictator of Cuba. He took over from his brother. What they are basically installing is a North Korea-style communist monarchy, where the kids will take over the dictatorship. All of Fidel Castro's kids are in charge of the apparatus of the state. They control about 60% of the economy directly through the military.

There is no transition going on. I encourage the member to actually retract that part of her statement, because it does not make any sense. It is not even factual.

[Pam Goldsmith-Jones, Liberal, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, this transition of power began a few years ago. It has also taken leadership and distributed it somewhat.

Regardless, Cuba is a sovereign country, and Canada is there to promote peaceful pluralism, inclusion, democratic rights, and human rights for ourselves as much as for the Cuban people.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as we are talking about the Americas and human rights, I cannot help but point out once again that the Conservatives made deep cuts to Canada's contribution to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, a key organization that does good work and has produced results in the entire region, including Cuba. A few months ago, it issued an urgent call to the Canadian government for support, which has yet to be acknowledged.

I would like to ask my colleague whether Canada will finally provide ongoing support for the Inter-American Human Rights Commission.