Debates of April 3rd, 2017

The Environment

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

On the contrary, Mr. Speaker, with our pan-Canadian framework, an historic accord negotiated with all provinces, we have, for the first time in Canadian history, presented a concrete plan to deliver on climate change targets. We are going to make concrete emissions reductions while at the same time making steps to export our resources to markets. Building both a strong economy and a protected environment is the commitment we made to Canadians. That is a commitment we are keeping.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Speaker, actually, the problem is that Environment Canada has just confirmed it is a commitment that they are not keeping.

Once in power, the Prime Minister adopted the exact same targets for climate change as Stephen Harper did. Last week, Environment Canada confirmed that the government will not meet these abysmal targets.

Given that the Prime Minister himself adopted the former Conservative government's targets, who will he blame now?

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Prime Minister]

Mr. Speaker, once again the member seems to be having trouble with the facts.

The department's analysis was based on the former government's failure to implement any measures. Since then, we have put in place a pan-Canadian framework that will enable us to deliver on our greenhouse gas reduction targets while, at the same time, creating jobs and building a better future for all Canadians. We can protect the environment while building a prosperous economy, and that is what we are doing.

Public Safety

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, talking about facts, I want to reaffirm that Conservatives invested in public transit and made announcements in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto, more than the Liberal government has made, and we are proud of that. We invested a lot.

Public safety is extremely important and this weak government's response is inadequate. Airport security requires that we reassert the importance of security.

Why is this government not taking security seriously? Employees with access to the tarmac could access the planes. The response is completely inadequate—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of Transportation.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Transportation, I want our airports to be safe and I also want our travellers to feel safe. That is why we implemented a robust security system. People working in our airports' secure areas are checked daily. We dismissed some people because we did not find them to be trustworthy. We will continue to be vigilant. Our security system is extremely important.

[Denis Lebel, Conservative, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Speaker, what has the government done since learning that these four radicalized employees had access to high-security areas at the airport? Have these employees been fired? What steps have been taken?

Attacks are happening around the world, as we saw again today, but here, everyone is nice, everything is peachy.

What additional measures are going to be taken? Why is the minister not announcing new measures right now?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, we already have a robust system in place.

People working in secure areas have a red security clearance and were subjected to a rigorous screening process by our security agencies prior to hiring. Every day, every 24 hours, we check to see that nothing has changed. If something changes, we take immediate action. Our security system is in good hands.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Mr. Speaker, after learning that there are radicalized employees at the Trudeau international airport, the Prime Minister of our country said in his response that we should have a conversation. Really, Mr. Speaker, we should have a conversation when there are security issues at risk? This is no time for conversations. This is time for actual action. When will the Liberals fire these radicalized employees and assure that the travelling public have safe airports to go to?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Transport, I take security at our airports extremely seriously. Not only do we have a system in place that is secure, we also want to make sure that Canadian travellers feel that they are in security. I want to say that we have a very robust system in place. In the last two years, we have either prevented 1,100 people from being hired to work in secure areas or we have removed their security clearance. We are vigilant on a daily basis so that Canadians can feel they are in security, and we will continue to be vigilant about it.

[Tony Clement, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Is it robust, Mr. Speaker? Robust? Let us review the evidence. These employees are visiting pro-ISIS websites. They are publishing radicalized propaganda. They are reviewing online sites about homemade explosives. The Prime Minister is dangerously naive, and so is his transport minister. They want to have a conversation. On this side, we say to fire these employees, stamp out any remaining culture of radicalization, and keep the people of Canada safe.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, what I want my hon. colleague to understand is that we are vigilant. We watch all of the employees who are in the secure areas, and when we discover that they may be going to websites or becoming radicalized, we take action. We immediately remove their security clearance. That is what has to be done to ensure that the people working in the secure areas of the airport for passengers, and on the tarmac, are people we can reply upon. That is why we are vigilant on a daily basis.

Foreign Investment

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have approved China's acquisition of a Montreal high-tech company. The company's fibre laser technology has several applications, including military development of directed energy weapons. Our previous Conservative government had blocked the deal on the national security advice of National Defence and CSIS. Now the Liberals claim they have attached unexplained conditions to the sale, but do the Liberals realize that in their rush to please China, they are putting the security of Canada and our allies at risk?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. We never have and we never will compromise on national security.

I also want to take this opportunity to highlight that we did not overturn a cabinet order. The previous government managed the process so poorly that it ended up in court. We followed a rigorous process. We examined all the facts from our national security agencies, and the law was followed.

We acted on the full record and advice given to us by our national security experts. Like I said, we never have and we never will compromise on national security.

[Peter Kent, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Mr. Speaker, for years, federal government departments have been hacked by a network of Chinese hackers.

Recently released documents reveal that China's hack of the National Research Council, in 2014 alone, cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Now the Liberals have approved the sale of this Montreal company and its sensitive defence-related technology.

Why are the Liberals spending many millions of dollars to protect our secrets from the Chinese, and at the same time they are selling our secrets to the Chinese?

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

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of our government, the Prime Minister asked me and a number of other ministers to full re-examine Canada's cybersecurity capacity.

That review has been ongoing now for a number of months and is leading to a much more vigorous and robust posture on the part of Canada, in collaboration with our allies, in dealing with all cybersecurity issues.

Might I just repeat, with respect to the transaction that has been referred to in the question, all national security advice has been followed.

Justice

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it has been two years since the Liberals made a promise to regulate and legalize marijuana, and in that time tens of thousands of Canadians have been subjected to arrest, charges, and convictions for simple possession. This has done real harm to future employment prospects and is burdening an already strained justice system.

Meanwhile, the Liberals continue to refuse any thought of decriminalization as an interim measure. Why is this supposedly progressive Liberal government continuing to hand out criminal records to Canadians for simple cannabis possession?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, our government, as we have said all along, is committed to legalization of cannabis: strict regulation, and restricting access.

We are going to be moving forward and are moving forward in a comprehensive and responsible way. Simply decriminalizing it will not achieve the objectives of keeping it out of the hands of children, and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals.

We will be moving forward, as I said, in a responsible way. Simply decriminalizing, to use the words of the member for Outremont, would be a mistake.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has finally announced that marijuana will be legalized by July 1, 2018. How many lines are devoted to that in the budget? There are two.

There is no new investment for prevention and education for young people. There is no transition plan and the government has absolutely no intention of moving forward with decriminalization in the meantime.

Thousands of young people have been given criminal records for possession since the Liberals made their promise in 2015.

How many professional careers is the Prime Minister, who is also the Minister of Youth, willing to sacrifice in order to satisfy his ego with his flawed and improvised announcement?

[Jody Wilson-Raybould, Liberal, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, again, our government is committed to moving forward with the legalization of cannabis, strictly regulating and restricting access to it.

Simply decriminalizing it would not achieve the objectives that we have put forward in a concrete way, in terms of keeping it out of the hands of children and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals.

We have brought together experts in the area of public health, safety, and justice to ensure that we are proceeding on a comprehensive and responsible basis when we are going to be moving forward with the introduction of legislation.

Standing Orders of the House of Commons

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

Mr. Speaker, the government House leader says that the Liberal election promise to change the Standing Orders trumps the traditional practice of seeking agreement with the opposition parties when it comes to the rules that run this place.

I took a look at the Liberal platform, something that the government House leader might want to consider doing when she finds the time. It says, “we will work with all parties to recommend changes to House of Commons rules..”.

I would say that this promise trumps the government's claim that it has a mandate to impose changes to the Standing Orders unilaterally. Is this going to be simply another broken promise?

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

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign, we committed to modernizing the way that Parliament works to make it a 21st century workplace.

It is important that we have this conversation and this discussion. It is exactly what I have said from the beginning. I look forward to working with all members in this place to have a meaningful conversation, so that we can bring this workplace into the 21st century.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, they say one thing and do another.

The Liberal government wants to unilaterally change the rules of Parliament. It is Parliamentary reform, take two. Last year, the Prime Minister blithely tried to muzzle the opposition in order to get his way. He was reprimanded for unparliamentary conduct and had to back off.

This type of arrogance is nothing new. In 1969, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, father of the current Prime Minister, said that opposition MPs were nobodies.

Does the current Prime Minister also think that all members who are not ministers or who do not think like him are nobodies?

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

Mr. Speaker, during the election campaign we vowed to modernize Parliament and turn it into a 21st-century workplace.

Our objective has always been to ensure that Parliament is relevant to Canadians and that the House is accountable, predictable, and transparent so that we can better serve Canadians. We look forward to hearing about the discussions that will take place between members and Canadians when the committee meets.

[Candice Bergen, Conservative, House Leader of the Official Opposition]

Mr. Speaker, in a year and a half the Prime Minister has shown that he does not know how to govern. His out-of-control spending, skyrocketing deficit, and ethics lapses have frankly been an embarrassment.

However, instead of owning up to his mistakes, he and his House leader are trying to take away the rights of opposition members to hold them to account.

Canadians are on to what the Liberals are trying to do. Has the Prime Minister seen the light, and will he commit that no changes will be made without the consent of all opposition parties?