Debates of May 31st, 2017

Government Appointments

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to clarify that Ms. Telford and Mr. Butts never discussed with Ms. Meilleur the possibility that she could become the Commissioner of Official Languages. That was never discussed. Furthermore—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I am having trouble hearing the answer.

To the hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley and others, I would appreciate it if they could keep it quiet.

The hon. Minister of Canadian Heritage.

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we had a thorough process and 10 candidates passed the tests. We checked their references and I then personally interviewed the candidates and saw that Madeleine Meilleur was the best candidate.

I then spoke with the Conservative and NDP critics, who both recognized Mrs. Meilleur's competency, expertise, and professionalism. That is why everyone agrees that she has the necessary qualifications for this position.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is funny, because Madame Meilleur admitted at committee that she met with Butts and Telford, so clearly the minister is saying that Madame Meilleur lied to committee.

No one believes that Madeleine Meilleur is objective. She is a donor to the Liberal Party, has given money to the Prime Minister's leadership campaign, and is a former Liberal cabinet minister.

The integrity of parliamentary watchdogs has been compromised by the Prime Minister and his partisan friends. Will the Prime Minister put a stop to this and tell Canadians that his nominee for the ethics commissioner will not be a Liberal friend or donor?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind my colleagues that in the context of this nomination, we wanted to find the perfect candidate. That person needed to have experience and expertise in the context of defending official languages in our communities and country. Since we are a government that values the importance of bilingualism and official languages, of course we did a thorough and very merit-based process.

That is exactly what Mrs. Meilleur went through. That is why we have a very good and strong—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there are only 38 days until the mandate of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner ends, and we still do not know whether the Liberals have begun the selection process to fill the position. Given Ms. Meilleur's appointment to the position of official languages commissioner, one has to wonder whether the process is rigged.

Can the Prime Minister assure the House that the next appointment will be non-partisan and will not be used as a way to return a favour to a Liberal Party donor?

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

Mr. Speaker, we have implemented a new, open, transparent, and merit-based appointment process. Our aim is to identify high-quality candidates who will help to achieve gender parity and truly reflect Canada's diversity.

We have made over 140 appointments under the new process. All positions are available online, and I encourage all Canadians to apply.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, maybe the hon. minister should check the facts and realize that the position that is posted closed on January 7. We have been waiting a very long time. The Ethics Commissioner has an unprecedented investigation into the Prime Minister's dealings. Her term is expiring in July, and there seems to be absolutely no rush to fill this role. Are we waiting to see how somebody's chat with Gerry and Katie goes before we get someone in this place?

We have seen no openness and no transparency in the other process, so why can we expect to see one here? Quite frankly, will the Prime Minister—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. House leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said time and time again, we have put in a new appointments process that supports open, transparent, and merit-based selections.

I agree with the member that the work the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner does is important. The role she has is an important role, just like many others. That is why we committed to Canadians to bring in a new process that would allow Canadians to apply and be considered in a merit-based process. We are proud of that process, as are Canadians.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the minister does not get it. The Office of the Commissioner of Ethics belongs to Parliament, not to an appointments process. They are abdicating their responsibility to put someone in place in order to ensure we have ethics and conflict of interest guidelines in place.

I am very serious. Do they have a response? Is this just going to be a list filled with Liberal donors, or do we have a chance of having somebody responsible in this role?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I have said—and I encourage the member to listen to the response, although she might not like it—there is a new process in place. It is open and transparent. It is merit-based—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I am sure all members are going to listen, I hope, to both questions and responses. That is what we are supposed to do here. Under Standing Order 16, we are not allowed to interrupt, so let us not do that.

The hon. government House leader wishes to complete her answer.

[Bardish Chagger, Liberal, Waterloo, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we have a new open, merit-based appointment process where Canadians can apply. All positions are available online, which actually allows Canadians who want to apply to look at what positions are open. Exactly what we committed to Canadians, we are delivering on.

Democratic Reform

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister got elected on a clear promise that we can all recite by heart, that 2015 would be the last election under first past the post.

When he betrayed this promise and said, “This was my choice to make and I chose to make it”, his awkward attempt to be strong showed him to be just plain wrong. News flash: it is not up to him. It is up to Parliament and Parliament alone to make this decision.

Will Liberals stand up to make every vote count and keep their promise to their constituents, or will they follow the terrible example set by the Prime Minister and betray their commitment to Canada?

[Karina Gould, Liberal, Minister of Democratic Institutions]

Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat and thank all members in the House who participated in the Special Committee on Electoral Reform. I also want to reiterate that I tabled our government's response, where we agreed with the majority of the recommendations on April 3.

However, I find it curious that the member is asking us to fully endorse a report that neither he nor his party fully endorsed. In fact, there is a supplementary dissenting report that they put forward.

Canada Revenue Agency

[Pierre-Luc Dusseault, NDP, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, believe it or not, Canada will soon be ratifying another agreement that will make legal today what was still illegal yesterday. Just a few months ago, the Liberals supported our motion to combat tax havens. Today, they are considering ratifying yet another agreement with a tax haven. That is ridiculous.

When the minister promised to review our tax agreements, what was her plan? Signing even more of them with tax havens? Is that it?

[Diane Lebouthillier, Liberal, Minister of National Revenue]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the government is strongly committed to combatting tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. In our last two budgets, over $1 billion was invested in combatting tax evasion.

We have achieved historic success. We recovered $13 billion last year, including $1 billion through the voluntary disclosures program. One hundred and twenty-two Canadian taxpayers whose names appeared in the Panama Papers are being audited. Criminal investigations are under way for taxpayers listed in the Panama Papers—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Beauce.

Finance

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government's economic performance is in a constant state of disaster. It spends and spends and spends and has no economic growth to show for it. It says it is going to stimulate the economy, but what it is about to do will actually sedate the economy, not stimulate it. This is bad for future generations.

What will this government do to create jobs for young Canadian families?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, today is a very important day. We heard this morning that first-quarter growth in 2017 was 3.7%. That is very good news. Our approach is working, and the unemployment rate is lower. I want to emphasize that the unemployment rate was 7.2% when our government came to power and is now 6.5%. That is a big change that means more than 250,000 full-time jobs. This is very good news for the economy.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Mr. Speaker, shame, shame, shame. Future generations will have to pay $25 billion in interest on the Canadian debt every day. That is money that will not be spent on Canadian social programs, and it is going to get worse because the debt is going up. The government is trying to create wealth at the expense of future generations. This has to stop.

When will the Minister of Finance understand that the best way to grow the economy is smaller government, more freedom, and more prosperity?