Debates of Nov. 28th, 2017

Bill C-63--Time Allocation Motion

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

Madam Speaker, the government agreed with us yesterday that we should adjourn debate on the budget implementation bill. We did so because we do not have confidence in this Minister of Finance who introduced this bill, as he will not answer very simple questions.

He had a chance to look over his records and now to answer either that he knows who sold the shares, that he does not know who sold the shares, or that he sold the shares. It is a very simple question. It needs a very simple answer.

I would ask the Minister of Finance the same question. Does he know who sold the 680,000 Morneau Shepell shares prior to the tabling of the bill regarding the budget and the tax changes? It is a very simple question.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, if the member opposite would like to make an allegation of wrongdoing outside this House, I would be happy to answer in full force.

What I can say is that today we are talking about the second budget implementation bill to move forward with the work we are doing for Canadians. Canadians know that we should be focusing on work that would benefit them, and not on spurious correlations that have absolutely nothing to do with the work in this House.

I will continue to talk about that and why we are moving forward on things that actually matter to Canadians. That is what we are talking about this morning. We are going to talk about how we are continuing to make a difference for Canadian families, a difference that has been enormous over the last couple of years and we will continue to work on on their behalf.

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

Madam Speaker, I have not heard the finance minister address the issue raised by our House leader that when the Liberals were in opposition, they joined us in condemning the practices of the then Harper government for shutting down debate in Parliament time and time again. We actually thought things could not get worse. It was hard to imagine how they would get worse. Somehow, the Liberals have found a way to make things worse for Parliament.

If the finance minister would not mind listening, I have a specific question for him. Like the Prime Minister, he has often talked about respect for Parliament and the process. How does he demonstrate that respect? He contributes to the idea that we should shut down debate more often than Stephen Harper did. That is the fact of the matter today.

If he wants to talk about facts, I think he should. He should address the fact that rather than moving through a normal process and talking about something significant, like the implementation of the budget in a proper way, as I am sure he talked about as a candidate, he has instead reverted to this other type of politics, where they say they will use their power to force upon Parliament vote after vote before debate can be concluded. I will remind him that is how mistakes get made. I remind him that when he disclosed his assets to the National Post , through John Ivison, in trying to clear up one ethical mess, he made another ethical mess. Maybe he was rushing forward on that too quickly and creating the cloud himself by not placing things in a blind trust. That was no one else's decision, but his.

The decision today is about his government's intention to ram through another bill, doing so 25% more often than Stephen Harper did. I would like him to address that one simple fact, if he could somehow find a way to do it.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to remind the member that Bill C-63 has been debated extensively in the House and at the finance committee. We have seen four days of second reading debate, during which more than 70 members have spoken. That includes 23 members from the Conservative Party and 10 members from the New Democratic Party. The bill has also been studied at the finance committee for six hours. We have seen eight members speaking at report stage.

We want to move forward. This bill is clearly the next step in our continuing goal of making a difference for Canadians. I suspect that the member opposite should be pleased that his constituents are feeling much better because there is more employment across this country. We are seeing 500,000 new jobs. I hope the member opposite is pleased with the fact that nine out of 10 families are seeing more money because of the Canada child benefit. Because of the positive economic results we have seen, we are able to make sure that benefit will keep up with the costs of inflation.

That is the kind of work we are doing on behalf of Canadians. It is the kind of work we are committed to continue doing. This debate has been extensively elaborated upon, and now we would like to move forward to do the good work that Canadians asked us to do.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, the finance minister cannot seem to understand why we still have so many questions, so let us come at it another way. Fool Canadians once, shame on the finance minister. Fool Canadians twice, shame on us.

The finance minister has admitted guilt by paying a fine levied by the Ethics Commissioner, as well as by surrendering millions of dollars of ill-gotten gains to charity. That is why Canadians' confidence has been shaken in the capacity of this minister. He now refuses to answer questions about major stock trades made before a ministerial announcement. He refuses to disclose information within—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

A point of order by the hon. parliamentary secretary.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, again I rise on the issue of relevancy. There is an obligation on the part of the official opposition to be relevant to the debate. Today's debate is about a time allocation motion and Bill C-63. Issues related to something the opposition wants to create at this point in time are just not relevant to the debate we are supposed to be having.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Again, I remind the member that the parliamentary secretary is correct on that fact, but the parliamentary secretary also knows that some latitude is provided. I ask the members to get to their questions and comments fairly quickly, within one minute, because a lot people want to speak on this, so we can allow questions, answers, and comments to continue.

The hon. member for Thornhill.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will come directly to my question, which relates to the relevance of this minister presenting legislation in the House and his past behaviour in doing so. Why will he not answer these simple questions? Why is the Prime Minister allowing him to stonewall?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would remind the member opposite that we have a process in this House of working with the commissioner of ethics. That is a process I have followed to the letter by disclosing all of my assets. Making up fabrications in order to move the dial from what we are actually doing for Canadians is what we are clearly seeing repeated over and over again. The actions of this government and mine as finance minister have led to a situation where the only thing the opposition members want to talk about is me, because the only thing they do not want to talk about is what is going on for Canadians. When growth has increased in this country significantly above the anemic growth rate under the previous government, they obviously do not want to talk about that. When we create 500,000 new jobs and reach the lowest unemployment rate in a decade, they obviously do not want to talk about that. When families are doing better because they have more money in their pockets, they obviously do not want to talk about that. Those are the things we want to continue to do on behalf of Canadians.

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

And record family debt.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I want to remind the member for New Westminster—Burnaby that when a minister or anyone else in the House has the floor, they deserve respect, and I would ask him not to heckle.

Questions and comments. The hon. member for Hochelaga.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Madam Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Finance if he knows whether his government plans to use time allocation every time the Minister of Finance introduces a bill.

Perhaps the Liberals do not want us to discuss them for too long, in case we find additional conflicts of interest involving the finance minister.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will continue to remind the House that we have had plenty of time to debate this measure. We have had four days to examine these measures in the House. We have heard from 23 members from the Conservative Party and 10 NDP members.

We think it is important to examine what we want to do for Canadians, which is to continue with our policy to improve Canada's economic conditions. Our economy is currently in good shape, but we know that there is always more that can be done. We want to continue improving the lives of the middle class and Canadian families.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Madam Speaker, I rise because I am disappointed that we are once again seeing time allocation. This is a very large bill and much here that I would like to study more. As the Minister of Finance will know, I voted for the bill going to committee. I think there is much in here that is really quite encouraging and positive. However, in the debates at committee, it was drawn to my attention by the member for Carleton that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank could indeed fund potential infrastructure investments that go against our Paris accord commitments.

Could the Minister of Finance assure this House, as the bill is rushed through, that Canada will apply a climate lens to the funds we provide to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I first want to acknowledge the member opposite, who did not vote to shut down debate yesterday like the Conservative and New Democrat members did. What I would say to her is that we are of course very pleased to be making investments in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. What we do by making investments there is get a seat at the table. As she knows, we have a significant goal of trying to make sure that our efforts to improve the changing climate around the world are considered in everything we do. With that seat at the table, we will certainly be talking about our government's initiatives to improve our environmental practices, and be a voice for encouraging that activity in other parts of the world as well.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Madam Speaker, what we are witnessing today is an absolutely pathetic display of contempt for this Parliament. This is a government that ran on the fact that the voices of its members would be heard, yet here they are again shutting down debate. However, we are seeing bully politics going on here as well.

I had a conversation with some of my colleagues this morning, and we talked about how this day would go. I said to them that as soon as the sun comes up, the finance minister's answer to any questions similar to yesterday's would be, “Let's take it outside.” Well, it was taken outside.

More importantly, the finance minister is responsible for answering to Canadians. He was asked a simple question about when he sold his shares or who sold those shares, and he refused to answer.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Here comes the bully politics again.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Even the member across the way acknowledged that he was starting to get off topic. I just want to remind my colleague that we are debating the budget implementation bill, along with the issue of time allocation. The member was starting to deviate, and I want to bring him back to those topics.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Once again, I am asking that members stick to the time allocation motion as it relates to the budget and get to their points and their relevance as quickly as possible, because all these points of order and interruptions end up costing time when others want to ask questions.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

The disruptions, Madam Speaker, are designed to thwart the voices of members in the House.

The relevance to Bill C-63 is this. The minister has shown a propensity to not be honest with Canadians and to not be honest with the House by not answering questions that are specific to him. How can we trust the minister with respect to the budget implementation bill, Bill C-63, if he will not answer those simple questions? How can we trust him when he suggests that he is not benefiting from this if he is not answering those questions? That is the relevance.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I will continue to be absolutely transparent with the Ethics Commissioner. That is the way we work in the House.

No matter how many times members opposite talk about their superimposed approach on the approach that has been used in the House for decades, for ministers today and for ministers of yesterday, we will not accede to their fabrication of a process that actually does not exist.

The member for Barrie—Innisfil yesterday moved a motion to shut down this debate. What we are talking about today is moving forward on Bill C-63. We are moving forward, because we have had debate on this over the course of four days. More than 70 members have spoken. We are moving forward with a plan that will continue to improve the lives of Canadians. We know how important it is to keep on this track, because we are seeing real impacts now after two years of hard work.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Madam Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Finance.

As you know, my riding is located in the suburbs north of Montreal, where the REM, or electric rail network, is being built. I wonder if we could have an update on the infrastructure bank and how it might support the REM project in Montreal.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I would remind the hon. member that she is to address the Chair and not the minister.

The hon. Minister of Finance.