Debates of May 12th, 2016

International Trade

[Chrystia Freeland, Liberal, Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, our government and I understand how important the forestry industry is to Quebec and Canada.

That is why I am in regular contact with my American counterpart, Michael Froman, on this issue. We are working hard to figure out how to resolve this issue. Our objective is still to maintain stable access to the U.S. market for our industry.

Employment Insurance

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Speaker, as we all know, Canadians often head to Service Canada offices when they need to engage with our government.

For quite some time now, people in Madawaska—Restigouche have been complaining about the service and the long delays they have to deal with when they are applying for essential programs, like EI.

Can the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development tell us about what he is doing to reduce wait times?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Madawaska—Restigouche for his important question and his efforts to support unemployed Canadians.

Our government has begun a national consultation to improve employment insurance services. I want to thank my parliamentary secretary, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, and the member for Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia in advance for the hard work they will be doing on behalf of Canadians in the coming weeks.

The comments and suggestions we receive will help Service Canada find ways to improve its benefit services to unemployed Canadians, and I thank them in advance.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

Mr. Speaker, in a letter to the Prime Minister, the Calgary Board of Education indicated that it has spent millions to accommodate the needs of Syrian refugee students.

Many of these students have complex learning needs, including overcoming severe language barriers. Alberta is facing difficult times right now, and this school board is already running a deficit. It expects it is going to have difficulty providing ongoing support for these students.

Why is the government offloading costs for its Syrian refugee initiative onto local school boards?

[John McCallum, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Mr. Speaker, I would question the premise of that question, but we will certainly look into it.

On the whole, we have had great success working with provincial governments on the refugees. I can tell the hon. member that, as of today, 98% of the refugees are in permanent housing, and I think I am about to run out of time.

The Environment

[Wayne Stetski, NDP, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, budget 2016 included $65.9 million for a so-called world-class biking and walking trail through Jasper National Park.

This came out of nowhere, and yet the Liberal government refuses to give any details. The minister has not consulted the public or stakeholders, in spite of Liberal election promises that it would be open and transparent.

A project of this scale needs a robust public environmental assessment process prior to any decision being made. Why is the government following the Conservatives' lead, ignoring transparency, and putting the ecological integrity of a treasured national park at risk?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, Parks Canada places belong to all Canadians.

We are committed to the ecological integrity of our national parks. We are also committed to making investments that ensure that Canadians have the opportunity to enjoy our parks.

This investment in Jasper National Park follows this principle. We are very excited that in 2017 we are providing all Canadians free access to national parks, national heritage sites, and national marine conservation areas. I encourage everyone to come on out.

Indigenous Affairs

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Mr. Speaker, the legacy of residential schools has indeed left a stain on Canadian history.

It was indeed a great moment when we achieved the residential school settlement in 2008. However, survivors of residential schools in Newfoundland and Labrador were left out.

My question is for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, who is also the MP for Labrador. Can she inform this House what the government is doing toward reconciliation and healing for the survivors in Newfoundland and Labrador?

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member and all my colleagues in the House of Commons for their support toward this issue.

It has been a long-awaited move of reconciliation with residential school survivors in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are very pleased that this week the Government of Canada and the survivors of five Newfoundland and Labrador residential schools reached an agreement in the settlement of a class action suit.

We are committed to moving past this sad and terrible chapter in our history, advancing—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman.

Foreign Affairs

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

Mr. Speaker, today I was joined by Bill Browder, an outspoken critic of government corruption, to announce new legislation.

Conservatives have tabled the Sergei Magnitsky law in both the House and the Senate. Sergei Magnitsky was wrongfully arrested, tortured, and killed in a Russian prison.

Legislation and sanctions on corrupt foreign officials who violate human rights were supported by the three main parties during the last election. Will the Liberal government now stand against abusive foreign officials and support this legislation, Bill C-267?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is completely right to say that what happened to Mr. Magnitsky is simply horrible.

I note that we are able to stop the perpetrators of this crime with the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, because it is checking eligibility at the border. We have this capacity.

The committee will have to review, very carefully, the Special Economic Measures Act to address this kind of problem.

Democratic Reform

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Mr. Speaker, if the government wants to fiddle with democratic processes, then tradition, decency, and common sense dictate that it should attempt to build the broadest consensus possible.

The government got 39% of the votes in the election, but it hogged 60% of the voting rights in the committee that is supposed to improve representation. If it wants to improve democracy, it should start by looking at its own ways of doing things.

Does the Prime Minister want to reform democracy, or does he want to take control of it?

[Maryam Monsef, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I believe all members in the House share an ideal and a goal to enhance our democratic institutions for us and for future generations.

Although the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party do not have official party status and do not normally have a seat around committee tables, we believe it is important to have a representative from each party at the table, to call witnesses, to travel, to provide input into the briefs that we will receive. We are looking forward to their meaningful and constructive engagement in this process.

Foreign Affairs

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Saudi Arabia uses its armoured vehicles against the country's political dissidents, but according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, that is okay because the images we have seen do not show Canadian armoured vehicles. I suppose the Canadian armoured vehicles are used to drive children to school.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister justified the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia by saying that he wanted to protect Canada's business reputation. How many human rights is the Minister of Foreign Affairs prepared to disregard to preserve Canada's business reputation?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that we never miss an opportunity to emphasize the importance of respecting human rights when we are in contact with the Saudi government. We never miss an opportunity, and we have had several of those opportunities. One reason why we have had several opportunities is that we have a relationship with Saudi Arabia. We will not make the mistake that the Conservatives made with Iran by cutting ties with a country.

With respect to export permits, as I have said repeatedly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has the power to cancel them if Canadian equipment is being misused.

Business of the House

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the government House leader could give the House an update as to what we will be debating for the rest of this week and for next week as well.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, we will continue with the Conservative opposition day. Tomorrow will be a further allotted day. Monday, we will begin report stage and third reading stage of Bill C-10 concerning Air Canada until 2 p.m. After question period, we will move on to Bill C-14 concerning medical assistance in dying.

I have had productive and optimistic discussions with my colleague House leaders. I am hopeful and optimistic that we will have an agreement on the handling of the debate at report stage and third reading of Bill C-14 next week.

Provided we are able to complete debate on Bill C-14 next Wednesday, the House will debate an NDP opposition motion on Thursday.

Finally, pursuant to Standing Order 81(4), I would like to designate Monday, May 16, for consideration in a committee of the whole of the main estimates for the Department of National Defence.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Mr. Speaker, from the debate that has taken place in the House, I am certain that all democratic members will agree to amend the government's Motion No. 5 concerning the creation of a special committee on election reform, in order to include, exceptionally, one Bloc Québécois member and the member of the Green Party as voting members.

I therefore seek the unanimous consent of the House to amend the government's Motion No. 5 as follows: “That the committee be composed of 12 members of which six shall be government members, three shall be from the Official Opposition, one shall be from the New Democratic Party, one shall be from the Bloc Québécois and the—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Apparently, the hon. member does not have the unanimous consent of the House to move the motion.

The House resumed consideration of the motion.

Opposition Motion—Trans-Pacific Partnership

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the hon. member was here during the previous speech by the member for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo in which she made the statement that the TPP had been around for months and years.

I am wondering if the hon. member has any thoughts on that one. In fact, the treaty only became public in October, late in an election campaign.

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have not asked my hon. friend exactly quite what she meant. I think one can say with reasonableness, the general idea is the debates and the negotiations around the TPP had been going on since it was first gazetted, since it was first negotiated.

Former secretary of state Clinton, now presumed to be presidential nominee for the Democrats, sometimes likes to own it and take credit for it, but the idea of it has been around for quite some time, even if the specific text and the final decisions around it only came about at the end of last fall.

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

Mr. Speaker, it has been highlighted by the minister and others that this is an agreement which we have the time to look at and consult with Canadians. It does not have to be ratified for another couple of years.

I wonder if the member could comment as to why he believes there is a super rush.

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I believe Canada should be one of the first, if not the first, because we need to take leadership. There is hesitation in the U.S. Congress, and Canada is one of the voices that has been listened to historically down there.

If this agreement is to go through, not only for the good of Canada but for the whole world, someone needs to be a leader. We are not seeing that in the United States of America right now. It would be good if it came from Canada as soon as possible.