Debates of Oct. 2nd, 2018

Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have the honour to lay upon the table the 2018 fall reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(g), these documents are deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

Business of the House

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, I believe you will find unanimous consent for the following motion. I move:

That, at the conclusion of today's debate on the opposition motion in the name of the member for Portage—Lisgar, all questions necessary to dispose of the motion be deemed put and a recorded division deemed requested and deferred until Wednesday, October 3, 2018, at the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions;

and that, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, the recorded division on the motion for third reading of Bill C-326, An Act to amend the Department of Health Act (drinking water guidelines), standing in the name of the member for Lac-Saint-Louis, deferred until Wednesday, October 3, 2018 immediately before the time provided for Private Members' Business be deferred anew until the expiry of the time provided for Oral Questions that same day.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The House has heard the terms of the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

(Motion agreed to)

Summer Jobs Program

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

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by residents from my riding who are concerned with the attestation clause in the summer jobs program. The residents from Dufferin—Caledon ask that the Government of Canada remove the discriminatory requirement and allow Canadians to continue to exercise their freedom of belief and expression without facing institutionalized discrimination by the Government of Canada.

The Environment

[Deb Schulte, Liberal, King—Vaughan, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition calling on the House of Commons to pass legislation to modernize the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, or CEPA for short, without delay. It was initiated by Kerry Mueller from Waterloo, Ontario, and the petitioners are calling for stronger protections from toxic exposures, enforceable national air quality standards and the recognition of a basic right to a healthy environment.

The petition is signed by more than 11,000 people from every province and territory in Canada, and is one of the biggest e-petitions on environment protection to date. The petition reinforces the key recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development to strengthen and modernize CEPA and to demonstrate its broad public support for prioritizing legislative action on these important issues.

In June, after this petition was launched, the government committed to reforming CEPA, agreeing with many of the committee's recommendations, and I look forward to seeing much progress on modernizing CEPA in the near future.

Postal Banking

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions to present today.

The first is in support of postal banking and is signed by a number of Canadians who are very concerned about the fact that nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders because of the crippling lending rates that affect the poor, marginalized, rural and indigenous communities across Canada.

There are 3,800 Canada Post outlets that already exist in rural and remote areas where there are few or no banks, and Canada Post has the infrastructure to rapidly transition to postal banking. Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Government of Canada to enact my motion, Motion No. 166, to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.

Survivor Pension Benefits

[Irene Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

My second petition, Mr. Speaker, is in regard to Bill C-397, because, as the House knows, spouse pensions are denied to surviving spouses of military personnel, members of Parliament, judges, employees of Crown corporations, the public service and employees of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police if the marriage was entered into after age 60.

Most of the affected spouses are women or caregivers who have cared for veterans and other federal employees, and it is unfair that they not receive a pension when their partners pass away.

Therefore, this petition is in support of my bill, Bill C-397, which would eliminate this legislation denying surviving spouses the pensions to which they are entitled.

Vision Care

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to table one of many petitions signed by Canadians from across Canada, including Espanola in my riding, who highlight the fact that in the next 20 years, it is anticipated that vision loss among Canadians will double.

The petitioners add that this is an emerging crisis, especially among the most vulnerable. They are calling upon the government to acknowledge eye health and vision care as a growing public health issue, and ask the government to develop a national framework for action to promote eye health and vision care.

Today is Eye read on the Hill Day. I invite everyone to attend this interactive reception and join me in reading to and with children.

Pensions

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

Mr. Speaker, today I am tabling a petition, largely from members of my riding in Port Hardy and Port McNeill, who have serious concerns and are calling to see the withdrawal of Bill C-27, an act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act.

People in my riding are very concerned. They were promised in writing that the defined benefit plans, which have already been paid for by employees and pensioners, should not be retroactively changed into target benefit plans. The tabling of this bill by the Minister of Finance permits precisely this change, thereby jeopardizing the retirement income security of Canadians who have negotiated defined benefit plans as a form of deferred wages.

The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to withdraw Bill C-27, an act to amend the Pension Benefits Standards Act. I hope that the government will take this petition from these communities seriously.

Trans Mountain Pipeline

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present to a petition from members of my constituency in Saanich—Gulf Islands calling for the Government of Canada to stop the purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The petitioners point out that the expansion will lock in oil sands protection growth, and that this growth in oil sands production is irreconcilable with Canada's targets and international commitments under the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. They further note that the purchase and expansion of the pipeline will increase the risk of a diluted bitumen spill, violate rights of indigenous communities and threaten the marine environment for indigenous communities and all of British Columbia.

Postal Banking

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition on postal banking from residents of Canada who would like to draw to the attention of the House of Commons that nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders' crippling lending rates.

There are 3,800 Canada Post outlets that already exist in rural areas, where there are few banks and credit unions. Canada Post has the infrastructure to make a rapid transition to include postal banking.

The petitioners call on the government to enact the motion by the member for London—Fanshawe, M-166, to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.

[Ruth Ellen Brosseau, NDP, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am rising in the House today to table a petition in support of postal banking. Quite a few people have signed this petition.

Nearly two million Canadians desperately need an alternative to payday lenders, whose crippling lending rates affect the poor and marginalized in rural and indigenous communities the most.

There are 3,800 Canada Post outlets that already exist in rural areas, where there are fewer banks and credit unions. Canada Post already has the infrastructure to make a rapid transition to include postal banking.

The people who have signed this petition are asking the Government of Canada to enact Motion No. 166 to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to table a petition in support of the work of my colleague, the member for London—Fanshawe, which calls on the government to enact her Motion No. 166 to create a committee to study and propose a plan for postal banking under the Canada Post Corporation.

The petitioners state that some two million Canadians are desperately in need of an alternative to payday lending. We know, in our communities, that often the interest rates offered by payday lenders are exorbitantly high. Many of the people who are most marginalized in our communities simply cannot afford it, but they do not have any other options.

The petitioners also note that some 3,800 Canada Post outlets already exist in our communities today that could kick into action if the government were to facilitate this process.

I hope the government will take action with respect to the request of the petitioners.

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.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

Fisheries and Oceans

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I have notice of a request for an emergency debate from the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to request an emergency debate pursuant to Standing Order 52, that in making this leave of motion the House do now adjourn.

The reason for this emergency debate request is recent scientific reports. They were published, admittedly, on September 17, but the gravity of the science contained in this news has taken a while to permeate into Parliament. I hope to seek from the government side an increased focus on climate action with a specific concern related to this entirely Canadian impact.

I refer, of course, to the scientific report in Nature Climate Change, entitled “Rapid coastal deoxygenation due to ocean circulation shift in the northwest Atlantic”. This report is the result of an international effort by scientists from the University of Washington, the University of California, Los Angeles and a number of other U.S. universities, as well as Dalhousie University and McGill University and a scientist from within the federal government's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, all of whom are saying something quite alarming.

The report notes that scientists have been tracking a global phenomenon, as reported in Science magazine earlier this year, namely that the whole of the oceans of the whole planet are losing oxygen content. However, our own Gulf of St. Lawrence, fully within Canadian waters, may in the words of one scientist be “the canary in the coal mine”.

I certainly know that you know the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Mr. Speaker, not only as a member of Parliament as well as Speaker, but coming from Atlantic Canada. For those who do not, the Gulf of St. Lawrence is bordered by Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and coastal New Brunswick.

Few places in the world can match the rich aquatic life of this extraordinary region. The fisheries are of great value to our economy.

It has a landed value of fish species, from plaice, halibut, wolfish, haddock, hake, monkfish, redfish, flounder and herring to crab and lobster, as well as from aquaculture in that region in the billions of dollars, a billion a year at least, plus tourism.

The emergency is that the death of the Gulf of St. Lawrence is a disaster economically, ecologically and socially. The terminus of the moment to save it could be as soon as four years from now, which requires real action on an emergency basis.

I can see my time is at an end. I beg the House and I beg you, Mr. Speaker, to allow the House to treat this as the emergency it is.

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

I thank the hon. member for Saanich—Gulf Islands for raising her request. Of course, she recognizes that Standing Order 52 requires not only that a matter be specific and important, even grave, but that it be urgent that Parliament deal with it immediately and so forth.

While there is no question that this matter is very important in interest, I do not find that it meets the exigencies of the strict wording of the Standing Order.

Opposition Motion—Justice

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

moved:

That, given Terri-Lynne McClintic was convicted of first-degree murder in the horrific abduction, rape and murder of eight-year-old Tori Stafford, and was moved from a secure facility to a healing lodge without fences and where the government has confirmed the presence of children, the House condemn this decision and call upon the government to exercise its moral, legal and political authority to ensure this decision is reversed and cannot happen again in other cases.

Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time today with the member for Parry Sound—Muskoka.

April 8, 2009, began like any other school day for Tori Stafford, a grade 3 student at Oliver Stephens Public School. However, that is where this sweet little eight-year-old girl's normal, peaceful day ended. Tori was lured, kidnapped and later brutally murdered.

Tori's killers, Michael Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic, were each found guilty of first-degree murder. In Canada, that means an automatic life sentence, 25 years without a chance of parole. It would seem that maybe justice was somewhat served for the Staffords and their family. Sadly, it is not what has turned out to be the case.

In recent days, we have learned that instead of serving her sentence behind bars, the prisoner, McClintic, has been transferred to a Saskatchewan healing lodge, a government-run lodge surrounded by trees, wildlife and children. There is no visible security. There is not even a fence. It is a no-brainer for all of us to know that is no place for a child killer. It is certainly no place for someone who committed the despicable acts Tori faced in her last hours.

The details of those acts have been recounted to the House. I want to take a moment and comment on the reaction of members of the government and the NDP when some of those details were recounted, because it goes to the point that not only we as Conservatives are making but that Canadians want us to face. The Prime Minister's reaction to hearing about what happened to Tori was to tell members of Parliament to essentially shut up and stop talking. Other members became visibly angry and upset and talked about decorum in the House. As if what happened to Tori, and whether or not it offends us, has anything to do with decorum. It is not about our feelings, our sensitivities being offended or about how we feel in this House.

What we need to talk about is justice for Tori's family. What happened to Tori was despicable and unbearable to hear, but this place is exactly where we need to face a harsh but needed reality. There are consequences of the decisions we make here in this place. Pretending these gruesome events did not happen and demanding that others shut up to avoid hearing them is the behaviour that led us exactly to where we are right now. It is that sort of behaviour that leads the public safety minister to describe the horrible acts committed against Tori Stafford as, “bad practices”. It is that sort of behaviour that desensitizes some into thinking a child murderer, with no possibility of legally seeing the outside world for at least 15 more years, should not be behind bars but should be a guest at a government lodge. It is that sort of behaviour that leads the Liberals to brush this shocking transfer off by organizing some sort of generic bureaucratic review. That is the behaviour that should be offensive to all of us, and what we need to address today.

It is said the worst fate a parent can endure is to have to bury his or her own child. To have to do so in the circumstances faced by the Stafford family is just unimaginable. It is why we can only imagine, and need to think long and hard about what the transfer of this prisoner has done to the Stafford family, as well as the effect it has had on them. It has revictimized the Stafford family. In fact, this past weekend, Tori's dad, Rodney Stafford, published an open letter to the Prime Minister. His words are utterly heart-wrenching. Mr. Stafford wrote:

I plead to you as a father & a proud Canadian citizen who, even after this traumatic experience, tries to live a normal tax paying life. I really have to question our Federal Government as to why convicted child murderers, such as Terri Lynne McClintic, deserve more rights than their victims & law abiding Canadians? I may not have grown up living a perfect life, but I grew up to learn that I love the country I live in and I know right from wrong!

The Prime Minister has tried to duck and weave on this issue this last week, pleading that this was all about politics. Rodney Stafford hit the nail on the head. He asked the Prime Minister, “Is this enough to remember that not all issues are political? Some are moral!”

That is what this issue is. Tori's dad is right, there is a moral imperative for action. There is a moral imperative for members of Parliament from all parties to stand up and demand better.

This is a situation that we need to reverse and one that we need to prevent from ever happening again. It is the sort of situation where immediate action is required to maintain Canadians' confidence in our justice system.

I had the honour to serve for more than two years as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety. Our previous government showed how a government can take action. When things happen in situations, the government does have the power to reverse them. When tough cases were exposed when we were in government, we cried out for change. When it was uncovered that serial killer Clifford Olson was receiving OAS, our Conservative government passed legislation to stop him and other prisoners. There is the key. It was not just something directed specifically at Clifford Olson. It was a policy change that stopped him from getting OAS, but it also stopped other prisoners from getting OAS. It has been done before and it can be done again. We also passed legislation preventing prisoners from using their time behind bars to justify an extension of employment insurance benefits. Again, it was not changing policy directed at one individual inmate, but we saw that something had happened when we were government that needed to be reversed in our correctional system and so we immediately implemented a policy so that the specific person would not receive that benefit and nor would other prisoners in that situation. Therefore, the situation that confronts us today is one that the Liberal government and the Prime Minister possess the legal and the political authority to fix.

We are likely to hear about a legal opinion that mysteriously surfaced last week, claiming the Liberals just cannot do anything. I am sure the government lawyer who wrote that document is an upstanding person, but we do have to remember that at the end of the day, government lawyers serve their clients: their political masters in the justice minister's office and the Prime Minister's Office. Since when do government members abdicate their responsibility just because a lawyer told them that maybe they would have a bit of push-back on it? Especially with the current government, they sure seem to love to go to bat for every criminal there is, whether it is Omar Khadr, Chris Garnier or now McClintic. The Liberals sure do not seem to worry about fighting those fights. Therefore, why in the world would the Liberals not say, “We will take the chance that somebody might challenge us, but we see this wrong is done and so we will correct it.” It is that simple. It is not difficult.

There are a few provisions in the law that I want to highlight. The Corrections and Conditional Release Act does give authority to the government. We have already talked about subsection 6(1) of the act, which says that the commissioner of corrections works, “under the direction of the Minister”. Paragraph 96(d) of the act actually enables the Governor in Council, the cabinet, to make regulations governing the process of transferring offenders from one institution to another. Meanwhile, paragraph 96(z.6) allows the cabinet to adopt regulations concerning the security classification of inmates.

Therefore, there can be a policy crafted. It could be as simple as saying that someone serving a sentence for the murder of a child must not be transferred to any institution without perimeter security or where children are permitted to circulate. It is very simple. That could very easily be done. This is all we are asking the government to do.

We have not seen any outrage from the Liberals and we have not seen any action. In an interview last week, Tori's dad said, “...Terri-Lynne had been moved to Saskatchewan to this healing lodge and I was kind of blown away.... Every time things seem to start to get a bit better...something like this comes along, where you just lose faith.” Let us give the Stafford family some faith by reversing this injustice. Let us give Canadians confidence in their justice system. Let us send a strong and clear message with the vote on this motion. Let us stand up, every single one of us, and vote to ensure that anyone who takes the life of an innocent child like Tori Stafford faces the sentence that Canadians expect him or her to, which is behind bars.

We have an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of real people. We know their names. We know the situation they face. We know the horrific acts that happened. We very seldom have the opportunity to affect individual people's lives like we do today. Therefore, I implore this House and I implore the government members to show their displeasure, show their outrage, but, more important, act and implement policy to reverse this decision and make sure something like this never happens again.

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Madam Speaker, we all in this House share the same sorrow for the Stafford family and the same outrage about the killer being in a facility like this. That is not in question. The question is, how do we make a policy change?

These healing lodges were developed in 1992 and put into law under a Conservative government, so clearly the Conservatives do not believe the healing lodges should not exist. This healing lodge had medium- and minimum-security prisoners during the entire 10 years of the Harper government, so clearly the Conservatives did not oppose medium-security prisoners being transferred there. Terri-Lynne McClintic became a medium-security prisoner in 2014 during the Harper government and that government did not stop that. Therefore, the previous Conservative government had not opposed that.

What is exactly the solution you prefer? Should there be no healing lodges? Should medium-security prisoners not be in healing lodges? Should first-degree murderers not be allowed to become medium-security prisoners? I would like to know the solution.