Debates of Nov. 28th, 2017

Public Safety

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservative Party learned nothing from the last election and the lessons Canadians taught them. They ran an election on snitch lines against Muslims, they ran an election on Islamophobia and division, and still they play the same games, trying to scare Canadians. The fact is we always focus on the security of Canadians, and we always will. They play the politics of fear, and Canadians reject that.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, nobody voted in the last election to elect a government that would be so focused on the rights of ISIS terrorists, people who watch soldiers burned alive in cages, people who sell women and girls into slavery. When people like that come home, they do not need to spend time writing haikus; they need to spend time in jail.

When will the Prime Minister take this seriously?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for St. Albert—Edmonton and others on his side will come to order.

[An hon. member]

What about that side?

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. When it comes to the same level, or anywhere near it, I will say so.

The hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we can see that Stephen Harper's Conservative Party is alive and well. They are doubling down on the same approaches they had in the last election, the same approaches that Canadians rejected. I wish them luck.

Ethics

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, given the cloud of ethical scandals that seem to grow worse every day, I have a simple question for the Prime Minister. Does he still have confidence in his finance minister?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the finance minister lowered taxes for the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest 1%. He delivered on a Canada child benefit that is helping nine out of 10 Canadian families and reducing child poverty by 40%. He strengthened the CPP for a generation with a historic agreement with the provinces. He has lowered small business taxes to 9%. He continues to focus on the things that matter to Canadians and he has our full confidence.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Leader of the Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, he was fined by the Ethics Commissioner for hiding offshore corporations, he is under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner for introducing pension legislation that benefited himself and his family, and he has been misleading Canadians as to whether he actually divested himself of the shares he owns, and now questions are being raised about the sale of $10-million worth of Morneau Shepell shares just days before he introduced tax measures that would drastically affect the market.

I have one quick question for the Prime Minister. Can we expect his finance minister to deliver the next budget?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of people who are watching question period, perhaps for the first time, across the country. The fact is that it is an opportunity to talk about substantive issues of the time that affect Canadians in terms of policy. The members opposite choose to go with personal attacks.

A handy way of evaluating if those personal attacks are baseless or groundless is whether the members opposite are willing to repeat them outside this House where there is no parliamentary privilege. What we see here is Stephen Harper's party, through and through.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the NDP has asked the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to launch another investigation into the Minister of Finance and the suspicious sale of Morneau Shepell shares in November 2015. If the commissioner decides to open an investigation, it will be the fourth investigation of members of this government, including two involving the Minister of Finance and one involving the Prime Minister.

In his mandate letter to the Minister of Finance, the Prime Minister stated, “...the arrangement of your private affairs should bear the closest public scrutiny.”

When will the Prime Minister follow the rules that he himself established?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I feel rather bad for the opposition members because we are managing a growing economy for the middle class, providing families with benefits that make a huge difference, and launching a national housing strategy that is being praised across the country.

We are not giving opposition members many reasons to criticize our actions. They feel they need to make personal attacks, and that is truly unfortunate for our democracy, our government, and our country.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I find it strange that the Prime Minister is telling me that quoting from his own mandate letter to the Minister of Finance constitutes a personal attack.

I think that what the Prime Minister should do is what he himself said when he was in opposition. In 2013 he said:

Canadians deserve leaders who tell the truth.

Leaders take responsibility when things go well but also when things go wrong.

Why is the Prime Minister of 2017 not listening to the member for Papineau of 2013, not assuming his responsibilities, and not coming clean with Canadians?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, our government has demonstrated a level of transparency, openness, and accountability that was completely unheard of during the days of the former government.

We will continue to work with the Ethics Commissioner. We will continue to answer all the questions. We will continue to show that we are working hard every day to remain worthy of the trust that Canadians have put in us.

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

Mr. Speaker, that is said by a man who is under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner.

The definition of insider trading is “the use of undisclosed material information for profit”. Here are the facts. The finance minister told the National Post he sold $10 million in Morneau Shepell shares in December 2015. Six days later he introduced a tax change that would have lost someone selling $10 million in shares half a million dollars. Just minutes ago, the finance minister refused to tell reporters if it was he who in fact had sold those shares.

Given all of this, how can the Prime Minister still have confidence in his finance minister?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I do not exactly blame the NDP for not remembering the 2015 election. It was a pretty bad one for them. However, we were very clear throughout the entire campaign that we were going to lower taxes for the middle class and raise taxes on the wealthiest 1%. That is exactly what we did.

The NDP have some theory about non-disclosure. It simply does not apply. We have anchored ourselves in telling people what we are going to do, and are doing it. It is working. We have the strongest growth in the G7 because of our finance minister and because of the plan.

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

Mr. Speaker, telling people what they will do and actually doing it is ironic, because if the finance minister had actually done what he told people he was going to do and had put his things in a blind trust, none of this would be an issue. The Prime Minister's instructions to the finance minister was that he “must avoid conflict of interest, the appearance of conflict of interest and situations that have the potential to involve conflicts of interest.”

The finance minister has failed to live up to that standard, and because the Prime Minister has failed to enforce the standard, we had to once again write the Ethics Commissioner. If all of this is not a conflict of interest to the Prime Minister, what exactly is?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this minister, like all members of this House, worked with the Ethics Commissioner exactly to avoid any conflicts like this. The Ethics Commissioner exists above the back-and-forth of Parliament to ensure that people are following the rules and that mistakes are not made. That is exactly the job that she has been fulfilling, and that is exactly where Canadians can be reassured that, despite the personal attacks of the members opposite, the Ethics Commissioner is being followed.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts: in December 2015, the Minister of Finance still owned thousands of shares in Morneau Shepell. On November 30, 2015, someone just happened to sell 680,000 Morneau Shepell shares worth $10 million. On December 7, one week later, the minister introduced tax measures that resulted in a 5% drop in the stock market, allowing this individual to make half a million dollars.

Given that the Minister of Finance owned Morneau Shepell at that time, can he tell us who sold these shares?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times in the House for the member's benefit, the Minister of Finance has always worked with the Ethics Commissioner and has always followed her recommendations. If he wants other facts, I can give him some. For example, real GDP growth was 1.6% during the 10 years they were in power. That is the worst performance since Mackenzie King. Average annual employment growth was 1%, the worst since the Second World War. He wants other facts, so here they are: growth was 3.7% last year, the best growth in the G7 for Canada. In addition, 500,000 jobs were created in the last two years, and there was a 40% drop in child poverty. That is the work our government has done.

[Alain Rayes, Conservative, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians want is simple answers to simple questions. If the minister has nothing to hide, all he has to do is answer this question. A week before he introduced tax measures affecting his own company, someone sold a block of 680,000 shares worth $10 million, neatly sidestepping a $500,000 loss when the stock market dropped.

Here is the simple question. He owned the company. Can he tell us who sold that block of 680,000 shares?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my colleague would benefit from being reminded that the tax measure he referred to is a tax increase for the wealthiest 1% and a tax cut for nine million Canadians. Our plan to do that was the worst-kept secret in town, because it was one of our campaign promises, and we keep our promises. Our promises have enabled Canada to achieve the highest growth in the G7 and have given some breathing room to families that need it, and I am very proud of that.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the member says that the tax change was promised. So was electoral reform; so was the $10-billion deficit that suddenly became $20 billion; and so was the tax on stock options that never happened. Promises mean nothing. Motions in the House of Commons move markets, and only the minister knew when he would introduce that motion and was able to predict what impact it would have on stock markets.

Someone sold 680,000 shares prior to the introduction of that motion, saving a half-million dollars. Who was it?