Debates of May 11th, 2017

Canadian Heritage

[Wayne Stetski, NDP, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians were thrilled to learn that Franklin's ship HMS Erebus had been found, thanks to the work of the Kitikmeot Inuit, whose oral history helped to pinpoint its location.

Canada spent millions recovering artifacts from the Erebus. A memorandum of understanding with Britain says any artifacts will be given to the Canadian people, but Britain is claiming ownership and the artifacts are being sent to the U.K. for public exhibition.

Will the minister ensure Britain acknowledges joint ownership for the Kitikmeot and Canada before she releases the artifacts?

[Catherine McKenna, Liberal, Minister of Environment and Climate Change]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member opposite for working so collaboratively on parks issues.

Our government is committed to reconciliation with indigenous peoples, and we value our relationship with the Inuit of Nunavut and the Nunavut government.

The wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, including the artifacts found on the wrecks, are officially the property of the U.K. government.

As we celebrate the discovery of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, as the member noted, found with the help of traditional knowledge, Parks Canada is working with the Inuit Heritage Trust to establish joint ownership of the artifacts.

Rail Transportation

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Mr. Speaker, once again the Liberals are over-promising and underdelivering, with prairie farmers being their latest casualty. When asked if farmers' shipping rights will be protected under the law, the minister dismissed them by saying “no comment”. If they expire or if the Liberals refuse to make these protections permanent, farmers will be railroaded.

When will the Minister of Transport end his obvious uninterest in the concerns of our western Canadian farmers and introduce legislation that protects their shipping rights?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I have been working very hard with the Minister of Agriculture in the past year with respect to our grain farmers. They represent an important part of our economy, and I want to thank them for it.

I have been meeting with them and with the shippers and the railways in order to modernize our great rail legislation. Grain represents 10% of what our railways transport. It is extremely important, and we will be coming forward shortly with modern freight rail legislation.

Taxation

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Speaker, spring seeding is a busy time for farmers. They do not have time to worry about Liberal politicians in Ottawa who are working arduously to make their lives less profitable. Tucked away in the fine print of the Liberal budget is a plan to eliminate farmers being able to use deferred cash tickets. This could be financially disastrous for many farmers.

Will the Minister of Agriculture commit to dropping this destructive plan and stop threatening the livelihoods of hard-working farm families?

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Mr. Speaker, as a former farmer and the Minister of Agriculture, I was certainly pleased with the last budget. I find that the government certainly became aware.

We have announced $70 million to science research to add onto the $30 million originally in the previous budget. There is $1.26 billion to the innovation fund, $950 million in innovation superclusters, and the list goes on and on.

This government understands the importance of agriculture and will continue to make sure that the agricultural sector remains strong in this country.

Indigenous Affairs

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada needs the inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women to be successful. There is no excuse for it to take over a year before it even begins to hear from families.

As Maclean's noted this week, it is falling apart before it even begins. A communications director was fired, and another senior adviser has resigned. It appears to be in complete disarray.

If this inquiry fails, the minister is responsible. If it takes years for the families to be heard, she has failed. What immediate action will the minister take to get this inquiry back on track?

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to ending the ongoing national tragedy that has surrounded women and girls in this country. We are confident that the commission has the tools, the resources, and the networks to ensure that the voices of families are heard and that they have the support they need.

Under the terms of reference, we have authorized the commission to examine and report on the root causes of all forms of violence that indigenous women and girls experience, and their great vulnerability to that violence.

In addition to that, we will continue to invest in the root causes that impact this issue.

Infrastructure

[Pierre Breton, Liberal, Shefford, QC]

Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes that a modern, efficient infrastructure network is important to our economy and to all Canadians. Canada has never seen the likes of our government's infrastructure investments in the 2016 and 2017 budgets.

The port of Trois-Rivières is essential to the local economy and to that of the entire Mauricie region.

Can the Minister of Transport tell us how our government is upgrading this key piece of infrastructure for Trois-Rivières and the Mauricie region?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Shefford for that important question.

I would like to take a moment to express our deepest sympathy to all of the flood victims in the Mauricie region.

I had the pleasure of visiting the port of Trois-Rivières last summer for an update on this vitally important St. Lawrence River port. As members know, $3.6 million was earmarked in 2015 to extend pier 10 and upgrade a storage area in a multipurpose zone of the port. This is a good—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.

Seniors

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Mr. Speaker, a new CIBC study clearly indicates that hard-working Canadians are forced to take time off and are stuck paying $33 billion a year in out-of-pocket expenses to take care of aging loved ones. The Prime Minister does not care. He has refused to appoint a minister for seniors and he has failed to deliver a comprehensive national strategy for senior care in Canada.

Canadian seniors are suffering as a result of the Prime Minister's blatant inaction. When will the Prime Minister finally stop ignoring the needs of Canadian seniors?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I am very grateful to our colleague for giving me the opportunity to speak about our record in supporting our seniors, in particular in supporting our most vulnerable seniors. We have reintroduced 65 years as the age of eligibility to receive old age security, which means that 100,000 vulnerable seniors will not need to enter into severe poverty. We have increased the guaranteed income supplement by up to $1,000, which means that 900,000 Canadian seniors are now living in a more dignified and secure retirement.

Fisheries and Oceans

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

Mr. Speaker, this weekend, because the government has failed to act, volunteers, tired of waiting, will clean up 16 abandoned vessels in Oak Bay on Vancouver Island. So far, there is no legislation, no regulation, and no money for abandoned vessels in the 2017 budget, and the government has even failed to meet its own self-imposed six-month deadline.

When will the government take the load off coastal communities and take the action that it promised?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, we did make that promise in the oceans protection plan, an unprecedented investment in ensuring greater security of our maritime waters. Our Prime Minister announced it last November. We are extremely proud of it. It is an extremely ambitious plan that is going to make our maritime waters safer for future generations. Part of that includes a plan to address the question of abandoned and derelict vessels, something which has never been done before. We are taking that in charge, and we will do it.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we know that aquatic invasive species pose a significant threat to our waterways. My riding of Oakville North—Burlington's close proximity to Lake Ontario enhances our quality of life and provides many economic opportunities, but the intrusion of invasive species in our Great Lakes is having a profound impact on our natural ecosystems and economic activities.

Could the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard share what actions the government is taking to combat aquatic invasive species?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Minister of Fisheries]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Oakville North—Burlington for her important work in defence of the Great Lakes.

Canada is committed to protecting Canada's waters. Budget 2017 proposes $43.8 million over five years for a national aquatic invasive species initiative. These funds would be used to prevent, detect, and eradicate high-risk aquatic invasive species using, obviously, innovative science and advice. This significant commitment would allow us not only to protect Canadian waters like the Great Lakes from invasive species, but also to continue the important fight against Asian carp and sea lamprey in the Great Lakes, something that I know concerns my colleague from Burlington very much.

Rail Transportation

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

Mr. Speaker, the Red Cross has mobilized to assist Canadian flood victims. It is important that people be as generous as they were towards Lac-Mégantic in 2013.

Speaking of Lac-Mégantic, for nearly four years now, the residents have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because passing trains cause them to relive the tragedy every day.

After signing a petition in favour of the bypass, after building hope during a meeting with the mayor of Lac-Mégantic, can the Prime Minister commit today to building a bypass for Lac-Mégantic as quickly as possible?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, as you know, a few months ago, the Prime Minister committed to trying to speed up the process. That is why I had the opportunity to speak with Premier Couillard recently. I am also in talks with Minister Coiteux, and I speak regularly with the mayor of Lac-Mégantic, Mr. Cloutier.

We are determining whether we can speed up the process. We just announced a BAPE study that will begin on May 23 and will last two months. We want to do everything we can to improve the process. The federal, municipal, and provincial governments are working together.

Intergovernmental Relations

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec Court of Appeal has come to the same conclusion as the Bloc Québécois, namely that Ottawa's plan for a securities regulator is unconstitutional.

At this point we are no longer talking about interference so much as invasion. Ottawa is attacking Quebec's jurisdictions and threatening the sovereignty of the National Assembly. It is serious. Ottawa is also dismantling Montreal's entire economic system and economic ecosystem.

Where did the 40 Liberal members from Quebec go and how do they justify allowing their party to attack the authority of the National Assembly?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.

Our government received the ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal and we are going over it carefully. The Supreme Court has already said that the federal government had a role to play in managing the systemic risks on capital markets. We are fulfilling that responsibility in a collaborative spirit that is respectful of provincial and territorial jurisdictions.

Interests of Quebec

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, speaking about the National Assembly, yesterday the members of Quebec’s National Assembly unanimously passed the following motion: “That the National Assembly deplore the federal government’s decision to establish the Canada Infrastructure Bank in Toronto rather than in Montreal.”

Everyone in Quebec deplores this decision, except for those 40 phantom Liberal members from Quebec.

When exactly are these phantom members going to start working for Quebec instead of undermining it?

[Amarjeet Sohi, Liberal, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities]

Mr. Speaker, we were very pleased to see the interest of a number of municipalities to headquarter the Canada infrastructure bank. We feel that regardless of the location, every municipality will benefit from the creation of the infrastructure bank, because they can undertake projects and mobilize the private sector as well as public dollars to build the infrastructure their communities need. We hear that from municipalities all the time. That is why we have put forward an ambitious plan to help them build the infrastructure they need, grow our economy, create jobs for the middle class and those working hard to be part of it.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. member for Hamilton Centre have a point of order?

Free Movement of Members of Parliament within the Parliamentary Precinct

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is actually a question of privilege.

Once again I find myself joining others who are rising to raise an issue of my rights being infringed. I rise, believe me, much more in sorrow than in anger, because the incident that happened occurred within less than an hour of my being at a PROC meeting where we were dealing with exactly this issue, privilege being denied in terms of access to the Hill.

I want to say at the outset that I would ask for just a couple of moments to describe what happened. In the interest of time and in fairness, because we are dealing with this at PROC, I will not be asking you, Mr. Speaker, to rule on whether this is a prima facie case, but I will be asking my colleagues at PROC to accept this as one more example of a challenge that we have to overcome.

Very briefly, I left my office in the Justice Building on my way over here. I did not lose a vote nor did I lose a chance to speak, but I did have a side meeting set up at the request of the Minister of Democratic Institutions, and I did miss that. There were implications for this.

I came out of Justice Building. I went to get on the green bus, and the driver said something to the effect that there was hardly any point getting on because the bus could not get up on the Hill because of demonstrators. I said that we should get on the bus and see how far we could go, and we would take it from there. There was one other colleague on the bus.

We got as far as the “car wash”, the vehicle security area, and we were stopped again. Another bus was in front us. After a few minutes, the driver had no idea when things were going to be freed up, so I got off the bus. I went over and talked to the immediate staff, the person who was doing traffic control. He did not know but said that it could be a delay of five to 10 minutes.

The driver had mentioned that all the people were walking up where the bus goes, and it was only just as we were arriving that security was putting up the fencing so that people could walk along on the Hill parallel to Wellington Street, but still leave room for the bus to go. Once that was in place, once we went through a bit of traffic management, we did finally get under way.

My point is this. Over and over, ad nauseam, we have raised the issue of the lack of planning. Once again, had that fence already been in place to accommodate the Canadians who are entitled to be on their Parliament Hill, there would not have been any stoppage. It again speaks to making the planning of member of Parliament's access to Parliament Hill a priority. We really are getting tired of saying this over and over again.

Mr. Speaker, I will conclude now, but I just want to say to my colleagues on PROC, by virtue of my not taking a lot of time to make this a big issue here, that I hope they will allow me to make this part of our review so that when we are looking at recommendations for change, it is both the case that you referred to us and this incident that has happened to me here today.