Debates of Nov. 28th, 2017

Vote on the Designation of an Item

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The Chair wishes to make a brief statement on the manner in which the secret ballot vote will be conducted on the designation of Bill C-352, an act to amend the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 and to provide for the development of a national strategy (abandonment of vessels). In so doing, I also wish to address the point of order raised yesterday by the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby.

With regard to the voting process, members may obtain their ballot from the table officer seated on their side of the chamber. They will then be able to mark their ballots in secret at one of the two voting stations situated in the corridor behind the Speaker’s chair. Completed ballots are to be deposited in the ballot box which will be placed at the foot of the table.

During statements by members and oral questions, ballots will be distributed from the corridor behind the Speaker's chair and the ballot box will also be placed there so as to not disrupt the proceedings.

With regard to the manner in which the results will be revealed, I am afraid that I cannot accept the argument made by the hon. member for New Westminster—Burnaby that this process should be treated differently from the only other analogous practice that exists in our Standing Orders, that for the election of the Speaker.

In that case, Standing Order 4(12) provides that all ballots and records of the number of preferences marked for any candidate are to be destroyed by the Clerk of the House. It also instructs the Clerk to in no way reveal the number of preferences marked for any candidate.

Standing Order 92 does not provide any direction to the Chair which would cause it to depart from that now established practice. Accordingly, when the two days of voting have been completed, the table officers will count the ballots and provide me with the final result, not the number of members voting for or against the motion.

I will then provide that result to the House at the opening of the sitting on Thursday, November 30.

The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs may wish to consider this matter and if it deems necessary, provide further direction to the Chair with regard to the manner in which the result of the secret ballot is revealed.

Pursuant to Standing Order 92(4), I now direct that the vote on the designation of Bill C-352commence.

I thank hon. members for their attention.

Government Response to Petitions

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

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to eight petitions.

Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act

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

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-66, An Act to establish a procedure for expunging certain historically unjust convictions and to make related amendments to other Acts.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

Violence Against Women

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Mr. Speaker, these being the days of activism against gender-based violence, I would like to take this opportunity to present another series of petitions signed by many people living in Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot and the Montérégie region. They are calling on the government to take swift, concrete measures to put an end to domestic violence.

Eating Disorders

[Carol Hughes, NDP, Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise again to table a petition regarding eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. Children as young as seven are being diagnosed and hospitalized with eating disorders. The petitioners indicate that more than one million Canadians and their families suffer. They also indicate that sufferers of eating disorders have a long wait list if they want help, and that there is limited access to mental health services and lack of trained professionals in hospital and residential care. The petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to support Motion No. 117 and initiate discussions with the provinces, territories, and stakeholders and those affected, to look for a pan-Canadian strategy for eating disorders.

Climate Change

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

Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to present a petition about climate change.

The petitioners in this particular batch of petitions are all from Salt Spring Island, and I want to note that within my riding of Saanich—Gulf Islands, Salt Spring Island has several active groups on the climate issue. They call on this House to recognize that the current carbon price put in place by the federal government, which they welcome, is far too small to have the effect of helping us reach the target for 2030. The petitioners call on the House to take meaningful steps to reduce greenhouse gases and to have the carbon price increase incrementally to at least $150 by 2030.

Omar Khadr

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have been asked to present two petitions to the House of Commons this morning.

The first petition is from a number of people who are concerned with the payment to Omar Khadr and the apology that was issued to him. The petitioners have asked the Government of Canada to revoke its apology issued to Mr. Khadr on July 7, 2017 and to seek to redirect any settlement payments attached to that apology to Sergeant Speer's widow and Mr. Morris for their pain and suffering caused at the hands of Mr. Khadr.

Religious Freedom

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is from another group of people who are concerned with the proposed amendment to the Criminal Code that would eliminate the protection for faith leaders and malicious interference with funerals, rituals, and other assemblies of any faith. The petitioners ask the Government of Canada to abandon any attempt to repeal section 176 of the Criminal Code, and to stand up for the rights of all Canadians to practise their religion without any fear of recrimination, violence, or disturbance.

Abandoned Vessels

[Sheila Malcolmson, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I bring voices from Nanaimo, Ladysmith, and Victoria into the House. Because coastal communities have called on the government to act on the long-standing pollution risk of abandoned vessels, I have introduced Bill C-352. Liberals have blocked debate on Bill C-352. The petitioners urge members of Parliament to allow the bill to be debated and voted on in the House to bring all the resolutions of vessel turn-in, recycling, safe disposal, and fixing vessel registration.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I want to remind members that the practice in the House is that we do not walk between the Speaker and a person who is speaking at the time. Many members do not seem to realize this.

The hon. parliamentary secretary to the government House leader.

Questions on the Order Paper

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

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand at this time.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Bill C-63--Time Allocation Motion

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism]

moved:

That, in relation to Bill C-63, A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 22, 2017 and other measures, not more than one further sitting day shall be allotted to the consideration of the report stage and one sitting day shall be allotted to the third reading stage of the said bill; and

That fifteen minutes before the expiry of the time provided for Government Orders on the day allotted to the consideration of the report stage and on the day allotted to the third reading stage of the said bill, any proceedings before the House shall be interrupted, if required for the purpose of this Order, and in turn every question necessary for the disposal of the stage of the bill then under consideration shall be put forthwith and successively without further debate or amendment.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Pursuant to Standing Order 67.1, there will now be a 30-minute question period.

I invite hon. members who wish to ask questions to rise in their places so the Chair has some idea of the number of members who wish to participate in this question period.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the government is now proposing to rush through a bill, moved by the Minister of Finance, without adequate debate among Canadians, not only about the substance of the bill but the conduct of the minister in crafting it and other similar legislation.

The very first financial legislation introduced in this House by the finance minister was a notice of ways and means on December 7, 2015, that would raise the effective capital gains tax on January 1, 2016, only about three weeks after the introduction of that said motion. Financial advisers told investors that they should quickly sell their shares in order to realize gains before that tax increase would take effect only days later. The result was that the stock market fell by 5% from the day before the introduction of that notice of ways and means until seven days after.

Morneau Shepell shares also fell by 5%, but not before somebody was able to sell their shares in Morneau Shepell and avoid those losses. Someone sold 680,000 shares, worth $10.2 million, one week before the finance minister introduced his motion on the floor of the House of Commons. That person was very wise and had great foreknowledge and ability to project what was to come.

I am asking if the Minister of Finance can tell us who it was who made that sale of 680,000 Morneau Shepell shares.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, what I would say to the opposition member is that if he wants to make an allegation of wrongdoing, he should do it outside this House.

I am focused on doing the work that Canadians asked us to do. What we are talking about today is moving forward on a bill that is going to continue our plan to make an enormous difference for Canadians. We have seen, over the last couple of years, that the work that we are doing is making an enormous difference. There have been 500,000 new jobs over the last couple of years and the lowest unemployment rate over the course of a decade.

What we are talking about now is continuing that work with measures that are going to ensure tax fairness and that we can continue on our plan, in its entirety, to make a continuing difference for Canadians. That is what we are doing today and that is what we would like to talk about.

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

As you know, Madam Speaker, we now have a record debt load for average Canadian families, the worst in the industrialized world. If that is something the finance minister is proud of, then I think his priorities are all wrong.

The government has brought in closure now, on average, 25% more times than the Conservative Harper government did. We can remember how Canadians reacted to the closures and omnibus legislation of the Harper government. Now the Liberals are 25% worse in terms of closure. It is appalling.

The real reason the government seems to be ramming through this legislation is because it is taking absolutely no action against all of these overseas tax havens that so many Canadians are concerned about. I cannot talk about ethical lapses, but we have the ethical void of the finance minister, who has been unable to answer any of the questions asked by opposition members in the House. Is that not the real reason that the government is ramming through this legislation, invoking closure yet again, because of the ethical void of the finance minister and the government?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am very happy to talk about what we are trying to do for Canadians through this bill and the high ethical standards our government will continue with, and what we are actually doing for Canadians on a day-to-day basis.

In this bill, we will make an enormous difference for Canadians. We will continue with the plans we have put forward and will talk about them this morning. I hope we will talk about the measures actually in the bill. We will talk about tax fairness. We will talk about how we have improved flexible work arrangements for Canadians. We will talk about our continuing goal of being part of the international community through our investment in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

We would like talk about the changes we have made for nurse practitioners, allowing them to have a broader scope of responsibility, not only making it easier for people to get access to medical care but also making our health care system more efficient.

We will want to continue to talk about the measures in this bill, which we would like to move forward now.

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

Madam Speaker, my colleague, the member for Carleton posed a question to the minister, and I actually thought that after having a chance to sleep on this, the minister would gather his thoughts and information and answer the question.

One of three answers is possible. There is, “I don't know who sold the shares”, or “I did not sell the shares” or—

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, and with all due respect to the members opposite and the line the questioning they might want to ask, I think it is important as we go through this process to note that our Standing Orders clearly indicate that the members opposite need to be relevant to the subject at hand.

What I would suggest—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

As the parliamentary secretary knows, there is a bit of leeway. I think we need to allow the member to finish her question. I am sure the relevancy will be there.

The hon. official opposition House leader.

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

Madam Speaker, let me quickly mention how it is relevant.

We have a Minister of Finance who has shown a number of ethical lapses, in fact one that he was found guilty of and fined for because he did not disclose all of the information he should have to the Ethics Commissioner. He has introduced legislation that—

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, on a point of order, in no way is character assassination relevant to the legislation before us or the procedure we are entered into.

We are talking about the budget implementation bill and time allocation. The members opposite adjourned debate on this very piece of legislation. If they want to keep relevant, those are the two items they should be talking about. Maybe they could justify why they moved adjournment yesterday. Maybe they could ask questions related specifically to the budget implementation bill. That is what we are debating today.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

I just want to remind the members that their comments must be relevant to the issue before the House. I would just remind the official opposition to maybe get to the question very quickly, because we are running out of time. Time does not stop when the points of order are being made.

The hon. official opposition House leader.