Debates of Oct. 17th, 2017

Public Services and Procurement

[Erin Weir, NDP, Regina—Lewvan, SK]

Mr. Speaker, it has been a year since the current government's self-imposed deadline to fix the Phoenix boondoggle came and went. Last weekend, when asked for a new deadline, the Treasury Board president said, “I could pull a figure out of the air and give it to you, but I'd rather tell the truth.”

Of course, the truth is that the government does not have a plan to fix Phoenix. Therefore, my question for the minister is simple. We know you do not have a plan to fix Phoenix, but when will you have a plan to have a plan?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I will have to remind the hon. member for Regina—Lewvan to direct his comments to the Chair. I think he was here. We will not talk about who was here and when and all of that, but yesterday I mentioned to members that of course, if they say “you” in here, they are referring to the Speaker, and I do not think he meant to refer to the Speaker.

The hon. Minister of Public Services and Procurement

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that hard-working public servants are not paid the money they are owed. Recently, an independent third-party report clarified that decisions made by the previous government put this project at a significant risk and exposed it to significant risk of failure.

We are doing everything we can in the areas of governance, partnerships, business processes, and capacity to make sure that public servants get the money they are owed. We will not stop until this is fixed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, please. I am having trouble hearing what people are saying, and I have to hear them so we know if there is someone breaking any rules.

The hon. member for Jonquière.

[Karine Trudel, NDP, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been responsible for this fiasco for two years now.

Even the senior director at IBM Canada who designed Phoenix admitted yesterday evening that the system was flawed. However, neither the company that designed the system nor the government seems to know how much longer it will take for 150,000 people to be paid correctly and on time, of course. I will ask the question one more time.

Does anyone know how long workers will have to wait for this disaster to be behind us?

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, it is unacceptable that public servants are not getting the salary they are owed. We are taking substantive measures to resolve this problem, including a $140-million investment in recruiting, hiring, and training new employees, emergency pay advances, and opening up satellite offices, among other things. We will leave nothing to chance.

Aerospace Industry

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Bombardier received millions of dollars in grants from the Government of Canada to develop the C Series. The public funds were given to a Canadian corporation to develop a Canadian expertise. However, yesterday we learned that Bombardier sold a majority stake in the C Series to a foreign corporation, Airbus. Therefore, my question is very simple. Will the government immediately take action to recover the millions of dollars that should have been given to Canadian taxpayers?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the joint venture, the repayment terms have not changed. What I do not understand is what the member opposite and the official opposition have against the aerospace sector. When we invested in research and development, they opposed us. When duties were imposed on Canadian airplanes, they went missing. Now we have more market access, which means more production and more jobs in Canada, and again they are opposing this. What do they have against the aerospace sector and good-quality jobs in Canada?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we are not big fans of the secret agreements that the Government of Canada negotiated with Bombardier.

The minister told us that Bombardier will have to reimburse the money. That is simple enough. Now, it is doing business with a new company, a foreign company. My question for the minister is quite simple.

When will taxpayers be reimbursed for the money that was given to a Canadian company to develop expertise here in Canada? When will Canadians be reimbursed?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, our government supports the aerospace sector and we will continue to work hard for the aerospace sector.

Let me be very clear. Under the Investment Canada Act, the process that I oversee, we will make sure we get maximum economic benefit. That means the head office will be here in Canada. That means production will be here in Canada. That means good quality jobs will be here in Canada, jobs that pay, on average, 60% more than other manufacturing jobs.

We will always defend Canada's national interests, and we will always defend the aerospace sector and the good-quality jobs from coast to coast to coast.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we expect support for Alberta, not Alabama.

Yesterday, Bombardier announced that the French company Airbus would receive a majority stake in the Bombardier C Series aircraft. Now Airbus cannot really lose here, and Bombardier cannot really lose either. After all, they are riding high on millions of Canadian taxpayers' dollars. Do we know who stands to lose? It is Canadian taxpayers.

Can the minister guarantee Canadian taxpayers will be fully repaid by Bombardier before this transaction is approved?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, again, I do not know why the members opposite continue to undermine our aerospace sector.

This is an anchor company that has made a world-class plane. Now this plane has access to the world. It has access to global markets. That means more production. That means more jobs.

What do the members opposite have against this? We will continue to support our aerospace sector, and we will do our due diligence. We will do our homework under the Investment Canada Act to maximize economic benefits for all Canadians.

Canadian Heritage

[Anju Dhillon, Liberal, Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in my constituency, creative industries are an integral part of the economy. We know that our francophone creators are among the most respected in the world. Recently, the Minister of Canadian Heritage unveiled her vision for Creative Canada, which calls for a major investment to help our creators through the Canada Media Fund.

Can the minister give us more details about her vision for this major investment?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle for her question and for her excellent work. As part of Creative Canada, the government will, starting in 2018, increase its contribution to the Canada Media Fund in order to provide it with stable funding. With that new investment, we are directly supporting jobs for our authors, producers, directors, actors, and technical crews. Last year, the fund invested $117 million in francophone projects in the country. We are committed to supporting our creators.

Taxation

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we know the Liberals are desperate for money when they have to start taxing discounted hamburgers and other employee discounts.

The Minister of National Revenue claims that she has asked officials to fix the problem, but she will not disclose to us just how she plans on doing that.

This will not hurt those among us who own French villas, but it will mean higher taxes for those who are hard-working Canadians, such as single moms, first-time employees, new Canadians, and young workers.

Will the minister finally table in this House the instructions that she sent to her officials, or is this just simply another broken Liberal promise?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, since the start of our mandate, the government has been focused on helping the middle class. The documents in question did not reflect our government's intentions. I repeat, the rules have not changed. We will continue to ensure that our actions support the middle class. As the Prime Minister has said, we will not be targeting retail employees' discounts.

Housing

[Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby South, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last week I met with residents of the Post 83 Co-operative in my riding, and they are very worried. Forty-five families could lose their homes when the federal government pulls funding from co-operative housing next year.

Given the looming expiry of co-operative operating agreements across Canada, will the government agree to make this funding permanent and protect the housing for low- and middle-income residents?

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

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the member for his question, which is exactly what we want to hear: the kind of housing support that the federal government needs to provide to all sorts of housing providers, including co-operatives and not-for-profit housing providers.

I had the privilege of meeting many of them this morning. They are keen on working with us for the long term. They have waited for us for a long time, and we are back.

Public Safety

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Speaker, indigenous Canadians make up 4% of Canada's population but 25% of the federal prison population. We know that there are historical and systemic issues that have combined to cause this problem, and that is why the government has been focusing on bringing about socio-economic change in collaboration with indigenous communities.

Will the Minister of Public Safety tell us what he is doing to ensure that indigenous people involved in the criminal justice system will receive the support they need to rehabilitate and heal, which ultimately makes Canadian communities safer?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Northwest Territories for his work.

The overrepresentation of indigenous people in our criminal justice system is an intolerable situation, and we are working very hard to address it. Yesterday, I was pleased to announce an investment of $10 million in the indigenous community corrections initiative to support community-based, culturally relevant projects providing alternatives to incarceration and supporting safe reintegration. It is part of $110 million in the last budget to help fix systemic problems in the criminal justice system.

Human Rights

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, today human rights activists and leading members of the Muslim community brought a petition to the House of Commons asking the government for stronger action on the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya. We add our voices to theirs, as we have for over a year and half. Specifically, petition organizer Fareed Khan said he would like to be able to ask the Prime Minister why he did not raise this issue during his speech to the UN. Mr. Khan cannot ask the Prime Minister that question directly, so I will.

Why did the Prime Minister not speak about the Rohingya during his UN General Assembly speech?

[Matt DeCourcey, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, everybody in this government is seized with the issue of the Rohingya. We know that the responsibility for ending the persecution of the Rohingya falls squarely upon the commander-in-chief, the military leadership in Myanmar, and Aung San Suu Kyi. On September 30, the minister spoke directly with the commander-in-chief, and the minister said to him that the violators of human rights must be held accountable, humanitarian access into the region must be permitted, and the Annan report must be implemented. Canada's ambassador to Myanmar has joined 50 other foreign ambassadors to visit the Rakhine State. We continue to be seized with playing a role in resolving this situation.

International Trade

[Simon Marcil, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our agricultural sector received a death threat from the American government yesterday.

By calling for the abolition of supply management, American negotiators are attacking our milk producers, our poultry farmers, and our regions. Does anyone really think that we would let this slide? Let me say it in a way that everyone will understand: no way.

Will the government stand up and refuse to abandon our farmers by immediately walking away from the negotiating table any time supply management is mentioned?

[Jean-Claude Poissant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, our government strongly supports supply management, farmers, and their families.

Our government remains committed to listening to Canadians on international trade issues. We recently had a round table on NAFTA with Canadian farmers, including dairy, egg, and poultry producers. Our American partners' proposals regarding supply management are unacceptable. We will continue to support our dairy, egg, and poultry producers and all of our agricultural interests.

Employment

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are people on the North Shore and in all our regions who have worked their entire lives.

People like the retirees of Cliffs Natural Resources put their heart and soul, and their talents into their jobs and then were left high and dry because the company went bankrupt. When one has to choose between food or paying for chemotherapy or ostomy supplies, things are not good.

What is the minister waiting for to take action? How many shattered lives does he need to justify taking action?