House of Commons Hansard #361 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was language.

Topics

Automotive IndustryOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order. The hon. Minister of Employment.

Automotive IndustryOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Thunder Bay—Superior North Ontario

Liberal

Patty Hajdu LiberalMinister of Employment

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows better.

From day one, we have taken steps to make Canada's automotive manufacturing sector more globally competitive and innovative. We have proven our support for innovation in the auto sector because we know it drives economic growth and it creates opportunities for Canadians.

Under our government, Canadian operations have received more than $5.6 billion in investments, creating and maintaining tens of thousands of good, middle-class jobs.

Going forward we have a plan for Canada to be a global leader in making cars of the future, automated, connected and clean.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:20 p.m.

Conservative

Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB

Mr. Speaker, today, we learned that the mess the Prime Minister created at the border will cost Canadians more than $1.1 billion, and that does not even include the millions of dollars it is going to cost the provinces. That is over $1 billion that will not be spent on the priorities of Canadians, priorities like helping our seniors, our veterans or actual refugees whose lives depend on them being able to come to Canada.

When will the Prime Minister own up to the fact that we have a big problem at our border and when will he fix it?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

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

Mr. Speaker, Canada has a long and proud tradition of providing protection to those who need it most by providing refuge to the world's most vulnerable people. The suggestion that the global migration of tens of millions of people fleeing persecution is the result of a tweet is kind of silly.

We have a plan. We have invested $173 million in ensuring that Canadian laws are upheld and that the security of our country is maintained. The plan is working. We have seen a significant reduction over the past several months in the number of people presenting themselves irregularly at our border—

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

Order. The hon. opposition House leader.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Candice Bergen Conservative Portage—Lisgar, MB

The Prime Minister's tweet was not only silly, it was actually pretty stupid, and it is causing a lot of problems at our borders.

In addition to the problems, Mr. Speaker, the crisis is causing huge delays for immigrants and refugees who are actually following the rules and want to come to Canada legally.

With a $1.2-billion price tag, and actual refugees being forced to the back of the line, what is it going to take for the current Prime Minister to realize that the crisis at the border, which his tweet created, needs to be fixed?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

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

I will take this opportunity to clarify a misconception promulgated by the member opposite.

Mr. Speaker, those who are seeking asylum in this country, who have asked for the protection of Canada, are processed through an entirely separate system than those who are waiting in other streams of migration. There is no interference in those processes.

It is very important to recognize that we have actually made enormous progress, under our current Minister of Immigration, on improving response times and processing times. The system is working well.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have failed to manage our Canadian border and the price tag is staggering. By the end of next year, the Liberals will have spent $1.1 billion of taxpayers' money to deal with illegal border crossers and that does not include any provincial money. Why is the Prime Minister spending more money on illegal border crossers than on getting our homeless veterans off the streets?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

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

Mr. Speaker, for all the rhetoric and hysteria that is now emerging about irregular migration, it is important to understand who these people are. For example, nearly 40% of the people who have presented themselves at our borders seeking asylum are children. Canada's response is to uphold the rule of law to ensure that our processes are fast, fair and final, as well as efficient, and we deal with those individuals to ensure they have adequate housing and shelter and are treated with the humanity that Canadians expect of us.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Larry Maguire Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB

Mr. Speaker, these are numbers that come from the independent Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada. Therefore, truly the entire refugee system in Canada is in a crisis and there is no end in sight, regardless of what the minister says. If $1.1 billion and a six-year wait time is not enough to close the loophole, what number would it take before the Prime Minister realizes the Liberals have to do something to stop this crisis?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

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

Mr. Speaker, after several years of significant cuts to both staffing and funding for the agencies responsible for managing this, the CBSA, IRCC and IRB, we are restoring the capacity of those institutions, agencies and departments to deal with this issue. The plan is working. As a result of our reinvestments, we have created real efficiencies in how these people are being processed, and we are working diligently to find new and better ways to improve efficiency in the system so that we may uphold Canadian law, Canadian values and—

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

Mr. Speaker, I had to laugh when I heard the minister talk about cuts we made. We did not make cuts. We rationalized because the border was under control and there were no problems.

Then there was that prime ministerial tweet, which has cost us $1.1 billion to date, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who has done his homework.

That amount does not even include the $600 million absorbed by Quebec and Ontario.

One of these days, they are going to have to stop blaming us for everything that goes wrong. The report reveals the truth, and it is exactly what we have been saying.

When will the Prime Minister take responsibility, do his job, and fix the problem?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:25 p.m.

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

Mr. Speaker, $400 million worth of cuts is some rationalization.

The cuts resulted in delays at the border and longer wait times. We made constructive investments to ensure border security and fulfill our international human rights obligations.

This might not be all that important to my colleague, but members on this side of the House care very much about border security and are committed to meeting our international obligations.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC

Mr. Speaker, is it an international obligation to have 32% of asylum seekers buy a plane ticket from Nigeria to New York and then take a bus to get to Roxham Road? That has nothing to do with any international obligation.

So far, this has cost $1.1 billion in federal money, not to mention the provincial contribution, and it is not over. The problem is that these people have to stop coming here illegally.

Will the government take responsibility and fix this problem?

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

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

Mr. Speaker, as my hon. colleague knows full well, that is exactly what we are doing, and that is why the number of asylum seekers has gone down. My colleague should think about his own obligations before he starts citing statistics. The Conservatives' rhetoric on asylum seekers is troubling.

It should be noted that more than 40% of the people crossing Canada's border are children. The penny-pinching of Mr. Harper's Conservative government, which cut $400 million from border security, resulted in backlogs. We are addressing those problems.

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Border SecurityOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan

I would ask the hon. member for Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier not to yell when someone else has the floor.

The hon. member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley.

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, there are two very important ways to mislead, either by the misrepresentation of facts or by the omission of important facts.

Yesterday, I asked the Prime Minister very important and very specific questions about exactly when he and his office first learned that the member of Parliament for Brampton East was under RCMP investigation. He refused to fully answer the question. This is the same tragic pattern that Liberal prime ministers follow whenever facing scandal.

To the Prime Minister, who promised to be different, when did his office first learn that his MP was under police investigation?

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Waterloo Ontario

Liberal

Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, as I have clearly stated, and as the Prime Minister also stated, it was last week that the member informed us that he was addressing certain challenges and is receiving treatment from a health professional. We hope he receives the support he needs.

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Mr. Speaker, repeating the same scripted non-answer only raises the suspicion of Canadians that the Liberal government is hiding something. The Prime Minister promised to set the bar on ethics high. He said that we “must avoid conflict of interest, the appearance of a conflict of interest”.

The Liberal MP for Brampton East was appointed to the finance committee by the Prime Minister, where he asked troubling questions of senior law enforcement officials about how to avoid detection. This raised red flags with the RCMP.

How do Liberals expect us to believe they saw nothing to worry about and that the media somehow know more about this scandal that the Prime Minister's own office does?

Member for Brampton EastOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Waterloo Ontario

Liberal

Bardish Chagger LiberalLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, that member is a seasoned elected official and he should know very well that the RCMP operates independently of government.

Carbon PricingOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, when I asked the Liberal parliamentary secretary for the environment why his government was exempting large industrial corporations from its carbon tax, he replied that if they had to pay the tax, we “could potentially have jobs leave and it will do nothing for emissions.”

It turns out for once that the Liberal parliamentary secretary is absolutely right, because the two largest export sectors in Canada, energy and autos, which are not exempted, are now seeing jobs leave just as he predicted.

Will the Liberals extend the exemption to protect the jobs of all Canadians?

Carbon PricingOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Ottawa Centre Ontario

Liberal

Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change

Mr. Speaker, it is extremely disappointing that the party opposite would politicize the loss of jobs at GM. It is a very disappointing situation.

We will always stand up for workers, but I would encourage the member opposite to go to GM's website, where it supports putting a price on pollution. Maybe the Conservatives should figure out that it should not be free to pollute.

We need to stand up for the environment. We need to stand up for the economy. We need to stand up for our kids.

Carbon PricingOral Questions

2:30 p.m.

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON

Mr. Speaker, well, if GM really did support the Liberal carbon tax, why is it not staying around to pay it? It is a very simple question. There will be no carbon tax on GM, because it is leaving and it will not have to pay the carbon tax. It is leaving behind the workers who will have to pay the carbon tax and other businesses that will have to pay the carbon tax. However, the wealthy CEOs are always happy to leave and to leave the costs behind for everyone else.

When will the Liberals start standing up for workers and consumers and give them a break from this costly Liberal carbon tax?