Debates of March 26th, 2018

Public Safety

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine a Canada where better is possible when Liberal MPs and the Prime Minister are engaged in an active cover-up by not allowing Canadians access to the same information given to the media.

What is the Prime Minister and every single Liberal sitting in the House trying to cover up? Why are they muzzling a top respected civil servant?

Does the Prime Minister actually believe a non-partisan senior level public servant would divulge classified information to journalists? If so, what investigation has he launched into Mr. Daniel Jean?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, one minute the opposition members pretend to defend Mr. Jean; the next minute they are attacking Mr. Jean. The fact is that they are playing politics with this issue. If they wanted to get to the bottom of this whole situation, they would accept the offer of a classified briefing so they could know the facts. If they would rather not know the facts, then they are being wilfully blind and they are just trying to play a cheap political trick.

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, a briefing cannot be both classified and non-classified. I have a very simple question. Was the information given to the media by Mr. Jean classified or not, like the Minister of Public Safety just said?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the offer has been made. It is up to the Leader of the Opposition to either accept the offer of a classified briefing and receive all the necessary information so he can be informed, or I suppose he can reject that offer. If he rejects the offer, clearly he prefers to be wilfully blind and prefers to play politics with the situation rather than getting the facts.

Housing

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

Mr. Speaker, when the Liberals unveiled their national housing strategy, the Prime Minister very clearly stated, “Housing rights are human rights”, just days after they voted down our bill on the right to housing. Now they talk about a rights-based approach to housing. However, even the UN special rapporteur on housing has concerns that the government will not recognize that “housing is a human right unto itself.”

When will the government stop using the “right to housing” as an empty slogan and actually recognize this fundamental human right in law?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, on November 22, we announced the first-ever national housing strategy. On November 22, we also announced the largest investment in the history of this government, of this nation in housing. On November 22, we also announced that these investments would reduce homelessness and take 500,000 Canadians out of housing that was either unaffordable or inadequate, and that would be based on the right to housing.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Speaker, contrary to what they tried to make us believe, the Liberals never intended to recognize the right to housing. To no one's surprise, the government has embarked on another series of directed consultations, in which we are told that their so-called rights-based housing strategy is based on many things, except the implementation of the right to housing. If the government truly believes that housing is a right, will it at least have the courage to incorporate it into our human rights legislation?

[Jean-Yves Duclos, Liberal, Minister of Families]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote Ms. Farha, who said the following at the launch of the national housing strategy on November 22:

What makes this a truly historic moment is the government’s acknowledgement that housing is a human right and its intention to recognize this through a rights-based housing strategy as well as in legislation

This was a historic moment. We are going to build history in the next 10 years, while taking hundreds of thousands of Canadians out of housing need.

Health

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Sault Ste. Marie, I have heard from many constituents who have been personally impacted by the opioid crisis. It is a crisis that has been taking too many lives across this great nation.

Our government has taken bold action on the crisis through legislation, investments, and numerous other measures. Could the Minister of Health please update the House as to what our government is doing to address this national crisis, which is destroying many lives in this country?

[Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Sault Ste. Marie for his hard work in his community.

We are in a national public health crisis when it comes to the opioid situation, and I am proud to say that our government is building on past investments. In budget 2018, we invested $231 million to help support additional measures to face this epidemic. While I am disheartened that last week the Conservative Party voted against measures with respect to reducing stigma and providing support to those in need, this morning I had the pleasure of announcing that we have made it easier for patients to access opioid substitute therapy.

I will continue to work hard to turn the tide on this national health crisis.

Public Safety

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, while the Prime Minister was teaching drama, I was working as a journalist. For 20 years, I attended more than my share of technical briefings, and it is made quite clear at those meetings what is secret and what is not.

On his trip to India, Daniel Jean gave a technical briefing to journalists. They published the information regarding the conspiracy.

Why is the Prime Minister refusing to give all Canadians access to the information that was given to journalists?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the offer has been made to the leader of the official opposition to be fully briefed about all the classified details of the situation. He should accept that offer so that he can be fully and completely informed. If he accepts the offer, which I hope he does, then other things can be discussed.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the minister is an honourable man who has been in politics for 35 years. He knows he is in trouble.

Daniel Jean, a senior official, gave journalists information that was then published. All we want is for Canadians to have access to that information. It is clear and simple.

Why are the minister and Prime Minister refusing to give all Canadians the information that was shared with journalists in India? It is clear—

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

The hon. Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman said that the journalists have published all the information, and that is correct. The fact of the matter is that the Prime Minister has offered to the Leader of the Opposition complete details on this situation, the classified information, so that the Leader of the Opposition can be fully informed of all the relevant facts and circumstances.

Why would a person interested in discovering the truth of the whole story turn down the information?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, did the national security adviser provide classified information to journalists?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the information that the opposition is craving is the information that the Prime Minister has offered to the Leader of the Opposition. He has offered him a full classified briefing so that he can know all the facts. He should accept that offer. If he turns it down, if he declines to have all the facts, one can only conclude that he prefers to be wilfully blind to the circumstances and play politics with the situation.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, did the national security adviser give classified information to journalists?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, again, the opposition is clearly determined to play politics with the situation and would rather not be informed of the facts in order to be wilfully blind. That is not acceptable. They need to accept the offer that was made by the Prime Minister, receive the information in an appropriate way, and then further things can be discussed.

International Trade

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, last October, I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs if she would stand up for the B.C. and Canadian wine industry in the face of U.S. demands for greater market access under NAFTA. Our wine industry creates over 37,000 jobs across Canada and is our highest value-added agricultural product, but over the last 20 years, the market share of Canadian wine has been almost halved while the U.S. share has more than doubled.

Will the Prime Minister state in the House that he will not trade away the thousands of jobs in our wine industry at the eleventh hour of NAFTA talks?

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada-U.S. Relations)]

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. also has measures in place to promote and protect its own wine industry, including limited points of sale.

American wine already does very well in Canada, and the U.S. is our largest supplier. The minister has discussed this with Premier Horgan. We will continue to work closely with the provinces and territories on this issue.

The priority of the government is to look out for the interests of Canadians, including job creation and trade opportunities in various and all sectors. We are always going to stand up for Canadian industry and defend our wine producers and workers.

[Tracey Ramsey, NDP, Essex, ON]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, the Liberal member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek and co-chair of the steel caucus said on national television that the American threats to Canadian steel and aluminum were a ploy, and that everybody knows it is a joke.

The potential impacts are far too serious for us to dismiss them as a joke.

Last week, I requested an emergency debate on tariff threats from the Trump administration. With the May 1 deadline now looming, when exactly will the government act to protect these Canadian industries and the workers whose jobs depend on them?

[Andrew Leslie, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada-U.S. Relations)]

Mr. Speaker, our government has worked hard to secure an exemption for Canada from tariffs on both aluminum and steel.

We are going to continue this good work until the prospect of these duties is fully and finally lifted. Our priority is to get the best deal for Canadian workers and their families. As the Prime Minister said to the steel and aluminum workers a couple of weeks ago, “We had your backs [then] and we always will.”

Public Safety

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I have a very simple and straightforward question.

Did the national security adviser give classified information to the media, yes or no?

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness]

Mr. Speaker, the opposition is clearly playing political games with a very serious situation.

The fact of the matter is that last Friday the opposition threw away an entire question period. It filibustered in unnecessary votes for hours on end. It has twice cancelled debate on the firearms legislation, which is designed to make Canadians safer in their communities.

The opposition is not at all interested in the public interest of Canada. It is interested in silly political games that simply do not stand the test.