Debates of Dec. 7th, 2018

Carbon Pricing

[Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Lib.]

Madam Speaker, I have watched the hon. member for months try to trick Canadians into thinking there is going to be an increased cost as a result of our plan. We are implementing a plan that will actually result in a net benefit to middle-class families. When we are moving forward with a plan, it is actually a feature of our federal law that this money goes back into the pockets of families. I will watch very closely in the next campaign when the hon. member campaigns on a commitment to take that money from the families in his community.

Automotive Industry

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Madam Speaker, auto companies will build the electric and autonomous cars of the future, but sadly, not in Oshawa. Twice this week, Liberals refused to let MPs study this very important issue. Twice this week the Prime Minister was asked to release his plan for affected auto workers in Oshawa. Again, nothing. It has been two weeks, and the Prime Minister still has not even bothered to call Oshawa's mayor to offer his support.

For the third time this week, will the Prime Minister release his plan for affected auto workers before Christmas, yes or no?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, as we have mentioned a number of times in the House, our sympathies go out to the workers in Oshawa and everyone else affected by this closure. We are disappointed in the closure, but we have assured the people of Ottawa that we will look at every possibility and work with General Motors and any other company moving forward.

As far as investments in the auto industry go, as far as the car of the future goes, the future for Ontario is bright and promising. GM has invested in Markham, and we will continue to work with all automakers and everyone in industry and the artificial intelligence industry to ensure the auto of the future—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock.

Telecommunications

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Madam Speaker, the Minister of Innovation has had nearly two years to review EORN's broadband network proposal. Twenty-five per cent of eastern Ontario homes and businesses cannot access broadband services. Business investment and retention, job creation, education, health care, and basically the overall quality of life of residents in my riding, depend on access to reliable, high-speed Internet and cellular service.

Will the minister confirm that rural broadband and cellular service is a top priority, and what is he doing to work with the province to ensure that this gets done?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, broadband connectivity and cell connectivity remains a top priority for this government. Through our connect to innovate program, we have invested $500 million across Canada, and that leveraged other investments in that industry. We have managed with 180 projects to connect more than 900 rural communities across Canada. That is many more than the 300 communities initially targeted, including 190 indigenous communities. We invested $10 million in eastern Ontario to connect 21 communities, including one indigenous community and 38 institutions. We are living up to our promises of—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot.

Agriculture and Agri-food

[Brigitte Sansoucy, NDP, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Liberals promised compensation for farmers. Lo and behold, yesterday they announced additional compensation in the form of a lottery. As today's demonstrations show, that it clearly not enough. That is nonsense.

On top of that, how can farmers hope to be pre-selected when they do not even have access to high-speed Internet? Only between 1,000 and 1,500 projects will be approved, when 6,500 farms in Quebec and 17,000 across the country have been seriously affected. The Liberals simply do not get it.

Will they finally take real action to meet our farmers' needs, yes or no?

[Jean-Claude Poissant, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food]

Madam Speaker, our government has introduced $350 million in support for dairy producers and processors across Canada. These programs have already begun helping producers and processors increase their productivity and their competitiveness, and adapt to the economic and trade agreement with the European Union. We have delivered more than $129 million to 1,900 dairy producers across the country so far. Applications for the second phase of the program will be accepted beginning in the new year.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Madam Speaker, last week the Liberals promised they would not agree to the U.S. oversight clause in the USMCA, but sure enough they signed the agreement with the clause included. American oversight of our Canadian dairy system undermines our food sovereignty and betrays our farmers.

This is the third time the Liberals have signed an agreement giving away access to our domestic dairy market, and now Americans can dictate our dairy policies. Is the government unable to keep its promises, or do the Liberals just not care about our farmers, producers and supply management system?

[Andrew Leslie, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.]

Madam Speaker, our government has defended our supply management system from strong American attempts to see it dismantled. We have worked hard to advance Canadian agricultural interests at the table. We understand there will be impacts on our farmers and we are committed to fully and fairly supporting them to help them continue to succeed.

The dairy working groups have been announced. They will develop strategies to fully and fairly support producers and processors and ensure that the sector can innovate, grow and remain competitive and be sustainable for future generations.

The Economy

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Madam Speaker, in 2015, after 10 years of cuts, Canadians had a clear choice: continue with the austerity that cost jobs or continue with the tax breaks that helped only the wealthy. That was what the Conservatives were offering. What a disgrace.

However, we offered Canadians a better choice. We invested in hard-working Canadians to support and create opportunities for the middle class and those working every day to join it.

Could the parliamentary secretary inform the House of our plan's many benefits for Canadian workers?

[Joël Lightbound, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Hull—Aylmer for his question.

Indeed, under 10 years of Conservative rule, our country posted its worst economic performance, virtually across the board, in many decades.

The Conservatives still do not have a plan for our economy, but we can see our plan is working. For example, just this morning we got some very encouraging employment figures.

Since 2015, over 600,000 full-time jobs have been created in this country, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 5.6%, the lowest level ever recorded. More Canadians are working. Our economy is the strongest in the G7 and because of our plan, the average Canadian family will have $2,000 more—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

The hon. member for Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola.

Telecommunications

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, another day and another ally is taking a stand against Huawei, with the news that Japan will ban it from government contracts. BT in the U.K. is also removing all Huawei tech from its existing mobile network.

For months, we have been asking the government to stand with Canadians and protect their cybersecurity. Why do the Liberals keep refusing to do the right thing and ban Huawei from our next generation of 5G technology?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, our government takes the security of Canada's telecommunications networks very seriously. We have invested more than $725 million to fund a new national cybersecurity strategy to ensure secure and resilient cyber systems and to encourage innovation.

The Communications Security Establishment has provided advice on the 4G network and will continue to do so on the 5G network. Together with Canadian and international partners, Canada's national security agency is constantly working to identify threats, and we will continue to listen to its advice.

[Dan Albas, Conservative, Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC]

Madam Speaker, if the Liberals want us to believe they take the cybersecurity of Canadians seriously, they should just simply take action and ban Huawei. Chinese law demands that this company co-operate with the Chinese government and spy on Canadians. How many more allies and experts have to raise this as a crisis before the government does the right thing and bans Huawei from our 5G network?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, once again, let me reiterate and reassure everyone in the House, as well as Canadians, that we will never compromise our national security. We will listen to our national security agencies. We will take their advice. We will move forward.

Balanced with that is the fact that we are investing in telecommunications services, which we promised Canadians we would do to improve the quality of coverage and services no matter where they live. 5G is an important part of that picture.

We will take the advice of our national security agencies, who will give us the same kinds of advice on 5G that they did on 4G.

Foreign Affairs

[Ziad Aboultaif, Conservative, Edmonton Manning, AB]

Madam Speaker, in June, the House voted in favour of our motion to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity.

It has been reported that one of the IRGC commanders had been ordering hit squads to kill politicians in Iraq that the Iranian regime disapproved of. At the same time, they are holding a Canadian permanent resident in a notorious prison, despite the regime's own acknowledgement that there is no evidence.

Why have the Liberals not listed the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist entity?

[Andrew Leslie, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lib.]

Madam Speaker, we will always defend human rights and hold Iran to account for its actions.

In any of the discussions we have with the Government of Iran, we are ensuring that we maintain the focus on human rights and making sure that those citizens who are unjustly detained are returned.

Our government is committed to holding Iran to account for its violations of human and democratic rights.

Air Transportation

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Madam Speaker, last week I had the pleasure of visiting Abitibi. I heard from a number of stakeholders, including the cities of Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or and several members of the tourism sector, that they are worried about NAV Canada's plan to eliminate air traffic controller night-shift positions in this area.

I would like the minister to reassure the people of Abitibi and clearly tell them that the government will not let NAV Canada entrust the safety of the public to robots just to save a few dollars.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

The safety and security of of our transportation networks is our top priority. Transport Canada is working with NAV Canada on this file to ensure the safety of operations at these two airports. NAV Canada is conducting a second round of consultations on this issue in the community. No decision has been made, but no one is talking about cancelling night flights.

Consumer Protection

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, the CRTC has launched proceedings to create an Internet code of conduct to protect consumers.

The problem is that without warning and little notice, it has put the public and experts on an impossible timeline to contribute meaningful input. Even worse, the CRTC is withholding crucial information to allow experts to do their job. The CRTC's irrational approach has become a debacle.

Are the Liberals really serious about consumer protection, or is this process smoke and mirrors? Will the minister extend the deadline to allow the public and experts reasonable time to make submissions to the CRTC and ensure that a code of conduct is done properly?

[David Lametti, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, the CRTC has a long track record of consulting Canadians and working well within the areas of its jurisdiction, including telecommunications and consumer protection.

We have every confidence that it will continue to do so. The minister is aware of this process, and we will continue to watch it.

The Environment

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

Madam Speaker, I have a specific question. Yesterday the leaders of the NDP, Bloc Québécois and Green Party met for the purpose of reaching out to the rest of the House, because it is time we recognized the absolute urgency of climate change. There is no time to argue. We need to set aside partisan politics and launch no less than a war effort to combat climate change. No one party can meet this challenge alone. We need to come together. Taking a non-partisan approach is a message that will make all the difference.

Would the Prime Minister agree to participate in a non-partisan effort and convene a summit of all party leaders to combat climate change?

Our children are watching us.