Debates of April 12th, 2017

Fisheries and Oceans

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the fish and seafood sector is integral to the economic and social fabric of thousands of coastal and indigenous communities in Canada, generating over $2.3 billion a year for the Canadian economy.

Our government is reflecting on future opportunities for this sector and taking the necessary steps to transform it and support innovation to help it achieve even greater success. That is why we recently announced a $325-million investment in the new Atlantic fisheries fund.

Investments under the Atlantic fisheries fund will increase employment opportunities for middle-class Canadians in coastal communities.

Ethics

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we already know that Canadians are outraged at the Prime Minister spending now over $133,000 to take a personal vacation to billionaire island, and he reluctantly admitted to reporters, after pressing, that he took the helicopter, the Aga Khan's private helicopter, to get to Bell Island.

We know from documents that have been released that this simply is not true, because a float plane was hired by the Government of Canada to get some staffers there.

My question for the Prime Minister is clear. He says that he will talk to the Ethics Commissioner, but why will he not just tell Canadians why he is making up this story when we know he could have taken an alternative route. Why does he not just tell us the truth?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, this was a family vacation to visit an old time friend. As I have said, we are working with the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to answer any of these questions. It is important that we do just that, and that is what we are doing.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Red Deer—Lacombe, AB]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister keeps saying that he is willing to meet with the Ethics Commissioner on his trip to the Aga Khan's island. He has been under this investigation by the commissioner for over three months.

Has he actually met with the Ethics Commissioner? If he has, how many times? If not, why has he not and when will he?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I am happy to work with the Ethics Commissioner on an ongoing basis to answer any questions she may have.

Again, this government remains focused on the things Canadians are talking to us about every day, right across the country: whether it is how we will secure retirement for their aging parents, we talk about strengthening the CPP and increasing the GIS; whether it is giving opportunities to young people, we talk about increasing the Canada student grant by 50% and giving young people better access to post-secondary education.

We put $2 billion into research and university research facilities to ensure we are innovating for the future.

Standing Orders of the House of Commons

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON]

Mr. Speaker, when the Prime Minister promised he would be answering the questions on Wednesdays, we had no idea it would be done like this.

The Liberal election platform contains only two commitments regarding the Standing Orders, only two, one of which is this gem, “We will change the...Standing Orders to end omnibus bills”.

Yesterday, the Minister of Finance tabled a 308 page budget implementation act, which makes amendments to more than 20 different statutes. It is the very model of a modern major omnibus.

The Prime Minister insists that the opposition is not allowed to veto his campaign commitments about the Standing Orders, why—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The right hon. Prime Minister.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, the abuse of omnibus legislation under the previous government was egregious and something on which we committed to take action. That is why in the legislation we put forward, including in the budget legislation we put forward, everything is related to the budget. Everything is thematically linked.

On top of that, what we are proposing in terms of changes to the Standing Orders will allow you, Mr. Speaker, to group into thematic groupings any piece of legislation to allow different committees to be able to study it better.

That is one of the ways in which we could make the House work better, if we worked—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Banff—Airdrie.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, can members spell “hypocrisy”?

Let me fill the Prime Minister in on something else. Parliament belongs to Canadians and not to him. It will not be changed to suit his selfish needs.

Canadians certainly see through the Prime Minister's blatant disrespect for our democracy. They will simply not stand for the Liberals' ramming through substantive changes to how their democracy works, especially when they are changes that will remove any ability to hold him accountable.

Will the Prime Minister drop his “me, me, me” attitude and actually respect Canadian democracy for a change?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear the member's passion for reforming our democracy and I am excited to get all input from members of this House on how we can improve and modernize the functioning of this House.

That is exactly what we are looking forward to: engaging with all members in this House in a substantive conversation on how to better serve our constituents and all Canadians, with rigorous debate that allows the opposition to hold the government to account and allows government to continue to fulfill the ambitious election promises that we made.

Health

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the CCPA's report on poverty inequity among British Columbian seniors exposed a dark truth about prescription drug costs.

A disturbing number of British Columbians are not filling their prescriptions because they cannot afford the high cost. With little in the budget for seniors and with CETA around the corner, which will hike up these prices, the government must reduce prescription costs.

Will the government leverage our combined buying power so that together we can negotiate lower drug prices?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to confirm that this is exactly what we signed an agreement to do with the B.C. government, and indeed with all governments across this country.

We will work together to reduce the costs of prescription drugs. I was pleased to have the Government of British Columbia be part of this. We are moving forward on doing exactly that.

How are seniors are protected is extremely important to us. That is why we increased the GIS for our most vulnerable single seniors by 10% and why we lowered the age of retirement from 67 to 65.

We are going to continue to work for our seniors, and I thank the member opposite for her important question and her support.

Fisheries and Oceans

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

Mr. Speaker, coastal communities have been calling for action to protect waterways from abandoned vessels for decades.

The six-month deadline on the government's latest promise is just two weeks away, and the Minister of Transport's answer yesterday was old news with no impact.

On Sunday, coastal communities passed an emergency resolution to support my abandoned vessel legislation. Will the Prime Minister support our bill to protect our treasured coast so that communities can stop carrying this burden?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to be out in B.C. a number of months with the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to announce a historic oceans protection plan that is going to demonstrate world-class protection of our oceans, including empowering coastal communities to have the tools and the support they need to be the first responders that they so often are in situations of distress and accidents.

We know that investing in protection for our oceans makes sense both for the environment and for the Canadians who make their living on the ocean. That is why we are so serious about moving forward on a world-class oceans protection plan.

Foreign Affairs

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised to implement Magnitsky-style legislation so Canada could quickly sanction corrupt foreign officials, but he has done absolutely nothing.

Last week the Assad regime perpetrated another war crime. Both Russia and Iran support the Syrian regime. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has spent his time in office normalizing relationships with Russia, dropping sanctions against Iran, and stopping bombing in Syria by our CF-18s.

Last night the Senate passed Bill S-226, the Sergei Magnitsky bill. Will the Prime Minister quit cosying up to dictators and despots and support this bill?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the work our Minister of Foreign Affairs has done, in Brussels last week and in Italy this week, with our international partners on holding the Syrian regime to account.

On the issue of Russia, I think the Russian government has a very serious choice to make: whether it continues to support the war crime-committing, bloodthirsty regime of Bashar al-Assad or whether it stands with the international community in condemning those actions and moving forward in a real, tangible way towards peace for the Syrian people.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, last week the foreign affairs committee tabled a unanimous report urging the government to not only update and enforce sanctions but also to expand them to include, in Sergei Magnitsky's name, gross violations of the sort barbarically committed by Syria last week with Russian complicity.

The government has lamely suggested it needs more time to study the report. That is somewhat disingenuous, given the PM's support for a Magnitsky act two years ago.

Will the Prime Minister now act?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that Canadians have appreciated is our engagement back on the world stage in multilateral forums and recognize that Canada is most effective when we work alongside like-minded partners and act in concert to put pressure on various bad actors in the international order. That is why we are working so carefully with our colleagues and allies around the world to ensure that we are holding governments, like the Russian government, to account on the choices they make and ensuring that the sanctions we bring forward are the most impactful possible from an international standpoint.

International Development

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, our Russian friends just vetoed a UN Security Council resolution against Syria.

Yesterday, the international development minister tried to justify the misguided restoration of education funding to the hate-infected UN Relief and Works Agency with an undated quote of an Israeli general. She seems unaware that the general's boss, defence minister Lieberman, has just asked the United States to stop funding UNRWA because it continues to teach hate and demonize Israel.

Can the Liberals not find another way to deliver aid?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, we believe that constructive engagement on the world stage is what Canadians expect.

Our re-engagement with UNRWA is actually allowing us to hold to closer account the choices and the funding that is delivered through that mechanism. We know that Canadian pressure and Canada being part of UNRWA allow us to ensure that the help is going to where it is needed and it is not creating negative consequences for Israel or for anyone else.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I would ask the hon. member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan to restrain himself. I know he is very interested in these issues.

The hon. member Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle.

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

Mr. Speaker, we had the honour of welcoming Malala Yousafzai to the House today. Malala is a model of courage and perseverance. Her fervent plea for the education of girls has inspired millions of people around the world.

Will the Prime Minister take this opportunity to tell the House how important the education of girls around the world is to Canada?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle for her question.

Our government has continually emphasized how crucial education is to empowering girls. Education promotes gender equality, reduces the incidence of child marriage and unwanted pregnancy, and promotes peace.

Last year, close to $334 million of our international aid funding went to education. That is 9% of our total international aid.

As we move toward implementing the 2030 agenda, we must work together to make quality education available from early childhood to the end of school—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order.

The hon. member for South Surrey—White Rock.