House of Commons Hansard #354 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was c-75.

Topics

Carbon PricingAdjournment Proceedings

7:50 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The hon. parliamentary secretary.

Carbon PricingAdjournment Proceedings

7:50 p.m.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.

Peter Schiefke

Mr. Speaker, the reality is that not taking action on climate change comes with significant consequences that my hon. colleague refuses to mention. For example, more frequent extreme weather events are already taking hard-earned money out of the pockets of Canadians across the country. Also, across the country people are starting to experience first-hand the devastating wildfires, extreme flooding such as in my own riding, severe droughts and stronger storms that are associated with climate change. In fact, for the past six years, annual insurance payouts from extreme weather have been close to or above $1 billion across the country, and that is up from $400 million a year over the 25-year period from 1983 to 2008.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipAdjournment Proceedings

7:50 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, when I rose in June to ask the Prime Minister if he still believed the United States was a safe country, the international community was still in shock at the Trump administration's blatant disregard for international refugee and human rights law by forcefully separating migrant children from their families as a deterrent to claiming asylum, and just announced that it would no longer accept asylum claims made on the basis of gender-based violence or gang or drug cartel violence. Sadly, the Prime Minister did not seem to care.

We know that there are now over 14,000 migrant children being held in detention facilities in the U.S. Tent cities have been erected. The President sent the military to the U.S.-Mexico border and suggested that the U.S. military should treat having a rock thrown at them the same way they would treat being shot at. Let us be clear: he was suggesting that the U.S. military should open fire on asylum seekers.

We are now learning that the U.S. is actively engaged not just in U.S. legislation, but in amending international agreements to define transgendered people out of existence. At both the UN and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it appears the Trump administration is attempting to narrowly define human rights protections so that it would not apply to transgendered people. This is beyond troubling, and it cannot go unchallenged.

The goals of these policies are clear, to de-legitimize and dehumanize asylum seekers to deter them from attempting to find safety in the U.S. This abdication of international responsibility is as morally bankrupt as it is illegal under international laws, and yet the Prime Minister sits idly by, doing nothing, claiming the U.S. is still a safe country for asylum seekers. How is that possible?

We need to hold the United States accountable for what it is doing. Donald Trump is attempting to shut down the U.S. border to Central American asylum seekers by disqualifying the reasons they are in need of protection. A 2017 report by Doctors Without Borders found that of asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, 39% cited direct attacks, threats, extortion, or forced gang recruitment involving themselves or their families as the reason they fled. Forty-three per cent had a relative who had died due to violence in the last two years.

ln 2017, Amnesty International also released a report outlining significant risk in the northern triangle region of Central America that LGBTQI individuals face. The report states, “Despite the difficulty in obtaining accurate figures from the countries' governments, there is evidence that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people (LGBTI) are particularly exposed to violence...and that this is related intrinsically to the multiple forms of discrimination LGBTI people face”, yet the U.S. is moving to prevent all of these individuals from even having access to a fair hearing of their asylum claim.

By continuing to defend the safe third country agreement, the Prime Minister is not just remaining silent to these disturbing policies, he is actively supporting them by claiming the U.S. remains a safe country for asylum seekers. How can this be justified?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipAdjournment Proceedings

7:55 p.m.

Peter Schiefke Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to respond to the question from the member for Vancouver East in more detail.

As we know, the safe third country agreement is a treaty that was established with the United States in 2004.

Under this agreement, Canada and the United States are working together to ensure the orderly handling of refugee claims. The safe third country agreement is based on the principle that individuals should seek asylum in the first country they arrive in.

We have a strong working relationship with our U.S. colleagues, and we continue to collaborate closely on border issues to this day. That being said, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires the continual review of all countries designated as safe third countries to ensure that the conditions that led to the designation as a safe third country continue to be met.

Factors that are monitored on a continuing basis include whether the U.S. is a party to the refugee convention and convention against torture, and to an agreement with Canada such as the safe third country agreement, as well as U.S. policies and practices with respect to claims under the refugee convention, and with respect to obligations under the convention against torture and its human rights record.

We take our responsibility to monitor the U.S. as a safe third country seriously, and always have. We also remain in contact with the UNHCR, which is responsible for interpreting the refugee convention and associated international obligations.

Canada has carefully analyzed recent developments in the United States, including the executive orders related to immigration and refugee matters, and we consider the United States a safe country for asylum claimants to seek protection there. This finding is also shared by the UNHCR, something I encourage my hon. colleague to take note of. While the safe third country agreement remains an important agreement to ensure the orderly handling of asylum claims, the reality is that much has changed since this treaty was first negotiated.

Biometrics and other modern technologies provide opportunities that did not exist 14 years ago. That is why it is important that both countries identify and explore various ways to improve that agreement, since the current context is different than the one in which it was originally signed.

As the Prime Minister has said many times, our government remains committed to ensuring an orderly and efficient immigration process, to protecting the safety of Canadians and to keeping our borders secure. That is exactly what we are doing.

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipAdjournment Proceedings

8 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

Mr. Speaker, the government is blind to this fact. We know that in the current migrating caravan travelling to the U.S. border, there is a small subset caravan of transgender women and gay men. They are forced to band together in order to keep themselves safe. Not only did they flee their homes because of the violence and the discrimination they faced, but they face similar dangers as they make the journey to the U.S. border to make an asylum claim.

My colleague, the member for Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, has called for Mexico to ensure the safety of this highly vulnerable group, for the U.S. to allow these clearly valid asylum claims to be made and that the condition of this group be monitored by NGOs like Amnesty International.

The government claims to be a champion of human rights. If these vulnerable individuals are denied having their claims heard at the U.S. border, will that finally be enough to make it realize that the U.S. is not a safe country for asylum seekers?

Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipAdjournment Proceedings

8 p.m.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.

Peter Schiefke

Mr. Speaker, I want to reiterate that Canada has a strong working relationship with our U.S. colleagues and we continue to collaborate closely on border issues.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires the continual review of all countries designated as a safe third country to ensure that the conditions that led to this designation in the first place as a safe third country continue to be met. That is exactly what we are doing with the United States.

We will also remain in contact with the UNHCR, which is responsible for interpreting the refugee convention and associated international obligations. That is what Canadians expect from us. That is exactly what we continue to deliver to Canadians all across the country.

Marine TransportationAdjournment Proceedings

8 p.m.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Mr. Speaker, when I picked this issue up initially, I was talking with the transport minister about an issue of key passenger and marine safety in my riding, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, which I am honoured to represent. I asked if it was true that the transport minister would allow passenger vessels to sail with engineers five decks above critical machinery and steering equipment, an arrangement that we do not allow on boat cargo ships. I asked the minister whether this was what he meant by increasing marine safety and he mostly avoided the question.

When I posted this online, I got a huge response from people in the riding. They certainly were concerned about the issue. In fact, we had described a scenario as a possibility. If there were a loss of power incident, an engineer, as opposed to being in the engine room, in the machinery space, to help shut parts of the engine down or to turn other parts of the engine on, would have to travel a great distance, in this case six floors between the bridge and the engine room. An incident just like that happened a week after I had asked the question in the House, so it certainly got people's attention.

Since then, this is what some of the crews working with this arrangement, this great separation between machinery space and the bridge, have had to say.

This is a quote from Dan Kimmerly, who is the president of the Ships Officers' Component of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers' Union and marine engineer second class. He said, “Coastal passenger ferries regularly sail in congested waters very near land. These sort of passenger ships regularly go almost full speed a few hundred feet from the rocks, with pleasure vessel traffic making the task even more difficult. Having personnel in the machinery spaces to immediately take local control of machinery and emergency steering is essential. Interpreting the control room as being part of the machinery space, while being five decks above, is putting the safety of unsuspecting passengers and pleasure boaters at an unnecessary risk.”

If that were not enough, in the draft marine personnel regulations, which are now under consideration, the transport minister is proposing that passenger vessels under 2,000 kilowatts can operate without any certified engineers on board at all. The transport minister now proposes replacing marine engineers, who have years of specialized education and experience, with small vessel machinery operators, who have a three-day course and a month's sea time. This means the minister is allowing these passenger vessels to sail our waters without anyone trained or certified to make safety critical repairs.

The passenger vessels that are affected by this proposed regulatory change are not small vessels. For example, the MV Quinsam, the ferry that takes me and my family, neighbours and constituents back and forth to Gabriola Island where I live, is 89 metres, just under 300 feet in length, weighs 1,400 tonnes, has four engines, carries large volumes of commercial cargo, including dangerous goods, and carries up to 400 passengers and crew at a time.

How could that not be interpreted as a watering down of marine regulations and a threat to marine safety?

Marine TransportationAdjournment Proceedings

8:05 p.m.

Peter Schiefke Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.

Mr. Speaker, the safety and security across all modes of transportation is our government's priority and the safe crewing of Canadian vessels is a key part of that work. A Canadian vessel's minimum crewing complement and its qualifications are determined by Transport Canada marine safety and security officials. The marine personnel regulations are reviewed regularly and adequate amendments are made to reflect modern technology.

BC Ferries' Salish class vessels do not have unmonitored machinery spaces. This is simply not true. The three BC Ferries' Salish class vessels are equipped with technologically advanced machinery control and monitoring systems. This means that the equipment in the engine room can be controlled and monitored from a remotely located engine control room which is required to be continuously manned by a qualified engineer.

Transport Canada officials analyzed the matter and confirmed that a continuously manned engine control room is the equivalent of a continuously manned engine room. This arrangement of having a centralized machinery control station on vessels is becoming more and more common with technological advances. The Salish class vessels reflect some of the most recent advances in machinery monitoring and is used extensively in the marine environment and even in the warships of the Royal Canadian Navy.

In this structure, a qualified engineer and engineering rounds personnel are continuously monitoring not only the ship's engines but also the ancillary systems necessary for power generation, pumps and firefighting equipment. This construct permits personnel to respond directly from a central location and keeps passengers safe from a number of possible incidents.

Our government remains committed to ensuring that Canadians have a safe and secure transportation network. The member may rest assured that the engine rooms of BC Ferries' three Salish class vessels are adequately manned and that these ships are operated in a safe and adequate manner.

Marine TransportationAdjournment Proceedings

8:05 p.m.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Mr. Speaker, this is what the BC Ferry & Marine Workers' Union is saying to me. Transport Canada just released the draft regulations on November 8. It held the national consultation meeting on November 14 and the Vancouver consultations took place yesterday. The closing comments are in February, but if they are not in by January, they will not be addressed and the regulations will not be brought back for any further national consultation prior to gazetting.

It sounds like it is drafting these new regulations on the fly. As a representative of coastal communities, I certainly have not been informed of it. Again, how does this square with the government's commitment to consultation and marine safety? It looks like a lowering of the bar.

Marine TransportationAdjournment Proceedings

8:05 p.m.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (Youth) and to the Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, Lib.

Peter Schiefke

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her passion and commitment to this issue.

I want to reiterate some key facts. A Canadian vessel's minimum crewing complement is determined by Transport Canada marine safety and security officials through a thorough assessment based on the marine personnel regulations. BC Ferries' Salish class vessels do not have unmonitored machinery spaces. They are, indeed, equipped with technologically advanced machinery control systems. This means that the equipment in the engine room can be controlled and monitored from a remotely located engine control room which is required to be continuously manned by a qualified engineer.

Our government, as I stated earlier, remains committed to ensuring that Canadians have a safe and secure transportation network. I would like to reassure my hon. colleague that these vessels are adequately manned and are operating as per the regulatory requirements.

Marine TransportationAdjournment Proceedings

8:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Assistant Deputy Speaker Liberal Anthony Rota

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted.

Accordingly, the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 2 p.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 8:10 p.m.)