Debates of Oct. 4th, 2018

Natural Resources

[Paul Lefebvre, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, let us look at the Conservatives' record on pipelines. When they took office in 2006, 99% of our oil exports went to the United States. Flash forward to 2015, and 99% of our oil exports still go to the United States. The Conservatives had 10 years to expand the global markets and they did not do so. Why? They did not respect first nations. They did not respect the court's judges. At the same time, they did not respect the environment.

We need to do it the right way, take the time that is needed and ensure that we move forward in a meaningful way.

Canadian Heritage

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, Netflix just announced it is opening a permanent office in France. The company will double its investment in French productions. Netflix will be paying taxes in France. It will even collect sales tax. It will invest 2% of its revenue in producing films and will have to guarantee that 30% of its content is European.

What a crazy revolutionary concept. The French asked Netflix to respect their culture and pay its fair share of taxes.

Will the new Minister of Heritage do his job, immediately put a stop to preferential treatment, and get the same commitments from Netflix here in Canada?

[Andy Fillmore, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House we will always be there for our artists and creators and that is exactly what we demonstrated through our cultural policy last year. We have made historic investments of $2.2 billion in the cultural sector, including in the CBC, the Canada Council, Telefilm and the NFB.

Due to the previous government's inaction, our culture laws predate the Internet, which is why we are reviewing them so they can continue to support high-quality Canadian content production. The principle of this review is clear. If people participate in this system, they will contribute to the system. There will be no free ride.

Canada Revenue Agency

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

Mr. Speaker, 90% of experts at the Canada Revenue Agency confirm that it is easier for the rich to avoid their tax responsibilities than it is for the average Canadian. This comes from the CRA.

This is a total failure for the Minister of National Revenue's so-called fight against tax evasion. From her ivory tower, she seems to be the only one who thinks that all is well and that her strategy is working.

Will the minister contradict 90% of her employees today, or will she finally admit that the Liberals have always planned on favouring the wealthy and their Liberal cronies?

[Deborah Schulte, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Revenue, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Harper Conservatives, fighting tax evasion in Canada and the world is a priority for our government. We have made historic investments in the CRA for the fight against tax cheats. We have fully adopted the international standards for automatic information exchange with our partners in the OECD, which gives the CRA useful data to help fight tax cheats even more effectively. The CRA is able now to assess the risk of 100% of our large multinational corporations annually and is better able to identify taxpayers who participate in—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. member for Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook.

Official Languages

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Speaker, in official language minority communities, the media plays an extremely important role by broadcasting local news and promoting cultural identity. That is why the minister made a major announcement today regarding minority language media.

I would ask the Minister of Tourism and Official Languages to share with the House—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. Minister of Tourism.

[Mélanie Joly, Minister of Tourism, Official Languages and La Francophonie, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook for his excellent question.

Our official language minority communities are very important to us. In order to have strong communities, we need strong media outlets, like community newspapers and radio stations. We heard their calls for help, and today, we answered them by announcing $14.5 million to support our minority language community radio stations and newspapers, as well as to create more jobs and support young journalists, whether they are in Nova Scotia's Isle Madame, Whitehorse, or Sherbrooke.

Justice

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Liberals voted against our Conservative motion to put eight-year-old Tori Stafford's killer, Terri-Lynne McClintic, back behind bars. Also yesterday, Tori's father, Rodney Stafford, visited Ottawa and gave several media interviews in which he asked the Prime Minister to reverse the transfer of his daughter's killer.

Will the public safety minister and the Prime Minister listen to Tori's father and the outrage of Canadians and put McClintic back behind bars?

[Karen McCrimmon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, the loss and pain that the family of Tori Stafford has suffered is heartbreaking. Section 28 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act says that inmate placement decisions must be made by the Correctional Service of Canada. Parliament decided that this power does not belong to a minister. However, the Minister of Public Safety asked the corrections commissioner to do a review, ensure that policies and procedures were followed and that those procedures remain appropriate.

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

Mr. Speaker, Parliament has actually opined under section 6 of the act that the corrections Canada officials have to listen to the minister. Before, under the Conservatives, Tori Stafford's killer was behind bars. Under the Liberals, she was moved to a healing lodge, and yesterday, Rodney Stafford, the father of Tori, made an impassioned plea to the Prime Minister to put his daughter's killer back behind bars. He said, “I wanted to see if I could kind of touch him a little. It's not about politics.”

Will the hon. members listen to Tori's father immediately and put Terri-Lynne McClintic back behind bars?

[Karen McCrimmon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, we do understand the loss and pain that Tori Stafford's family has gone through all these years, but it is important to understand the powers that have been vested in this Parliament by Parliament.

Former Harper PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin said, “This may be unpopular to voice but I’m concerned with politicians being the ones who decide how any particular individual offender is treated.”

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

Mr. Speaker, during question period yesterday, the Prime Minister asked us to listen to Tori Stafford's family. That is what we have been doing since this debate began.

We are listening to the family, and we are their voice in the House. Tori's father wants to see the criminal who heinously took his daughter's life back behind bars.

Why do the Liberals insist on defending the indefensible, when they should be defending and listening to the victims of this awful crime?

[Karen McCrimmon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, section 28 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act says that inmate placement decisions must be made by Correctional Service Canada. This act was created in 1992 by a Conservative government. As much as he might like to, the Minister of Public Safety cannot simply overrule laws, including the ones created by Conservative governments.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister said that we should not try to guess what Tori Stafford's family wanted when it came to putting her killer back behind bars, but we do not have to. Tori's father said yesterday, “Somebody clearly messed up, made a mistake and I'm just trying to get this mistake reversed.”

Tori Stafford's killer was moved from a prison to a healing lodge under the Prime Minister's watch. The Prime Minister can run, but he cannot hide from his responsibility, so why does he not finally do the right thing today and fix this mistake?

[Karen McCrimmon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, that particular inmate was reclassified from maximum security to medium security under the previous government. We believe that we have the correctional services in place. They are the professionals and the ones who know these cases, and to discuss this on an individual basis in this place is not appropriate.

Seniors

[Georgina Jolibois, NDP, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Mr. Speaker, Marie Trottier is a Métis elder from Buffalo Narrows who, this week, shared her experience with me of how expensive medical care is for elders in my riding. Like Marie, too many northern elders and seniors have to pay to get to a hospital in the city. They have to pay for hotels, meals and their prescriptions. This is unacceptable.

Why is the Minister of Seniors proud of the work she has done when so many northerners are being left behind?

[Filomena Tassi, Minister of Seniors, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, this government has invested $2 billion in rural and northern communities, including projects that support food security, local roads, renewable energy and enhanced broadband connectivity. We have also made the new horizons for seniors program more flexible, and this program is directed at combatting isolation. It also helps to promote exercise and activity. We have also automatically enrolled GIS recipients, and 210,000 seniors are now receiving benefits.

We are going to continue to work for our seniors to ensure that they are appreciated and included in our country.

[Scott Duvall, NDP, Hamilton Mountain, ON]

Mr. Speaker, this summer, the Prime Minister appointed the Minister of Seniors with a mandate to conduct hearings and to protect workers' pensions. So far, Canadian workers and retirees have heard nothing. The Liberal rank and file passed a motion at their convention to fix Canada's flawed bankruptcy legislation. A Liberal senator introduced a bill to do the same thing. On my cross-country pension theft tour, Canadians made it clear that they expected the government to fix this problem.

Why is the minister refusing to listen to Canadian workers and retirees?

[Filomena Tassi, Minister of Seniors, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, pension security is very important to our government. That is why, for the first time in 20 years, we increased the CPP so that these retirees will be more secure.

Also, as the hon. member is speaking about workplace pensions, he knows that our government committed in the 2018 budget to consulting with stakeholders on this issue. I am delighted this is also included in my mandate letter. The member knows, as all members of the House know, this is a decades-old problem and our government is going to consult to get this right and protect our pensioners.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, asylum seekers are having to wait longer than ever for hearings.

Yesterday, we learned that a refugee claimant in Montreal received his notice of hearing. Believe it or not, the date is set for January 1, 2030, a statutory holiday 12 years from now. The Liberal government's ridiculous management of asylum claims defies reason.

When will these claims be processed in a timely manner?

[Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, I rarely get the opportunity to stand up to correct a typographical error, which was the case in this matter.

However, it is rather ironic that after a $400 million cut was made to the CBSA, our government has been working diligently to restore Canada's capacity to deal with asylum seekers' claims in a timely way, including making a significant investment of some $72 million to restore CBSA's capacity to deal with removals in a timely way. We are working diligently to ensure that Canadian law is applied appropriately, as well as Canadian humanitarian principles.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, there is every indication that the endless delays apply to all types of immigration files.

We now know that illegal migrants will be living in hotels indefinitely at the taxpayer's expense, but the Liberals are not even batting an eye.

Will the Liberals make Canadians pay for hotel rooms for 12 years before they do something about the illegal migrant situation?

How much will this cost to the deep dismay of Canadian taxpayers?

[Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental and Northern Affairs and Internal Trade, Lib.]

Mr. Speaker, we have a plan and it is working.

The number of people crossing the border has decreased compared to the previous month of the previous year.

The Conservatives continue to politicize the issue by fearmongering and spreading misinformation. As my colleague said, the Conservatives made nearly $400 milion in cuts to the government institutions responsible for dealing with this type of problem, which is why I find it a bit surprising to hear them claim that they had a plan that could have worked.