House of Commons Hansard #284 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was refugees.
Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount Québec
Liberal
Marc Garneau LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, I am going to quote someone else. According to the executive director of the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, it is completely irresponsible to make Quebeckers believe that they are threatened by a huge influx of migrants.
A rigorous process is in place to protect those fleeing persecution and to ensure that those who abuse our system are turned away.
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Mr. Speaker, it is odd. The minister is quoting an academic, but the people working on the ground tell me that security screening times at the border have been drastically reduced in an apparent attempt to clear the backlog.
This government should make the safety of Canadians its priority instead of providing first-class service to those who do not obey our laws. If the Liberal government does not know who is entering our country, it cannot know how to ensure the safety of Canadians.
Why is the Prime Minister hiding the truth from Canadians?
Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipOral Questions
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount Québec
Liberal
Marc Garneau LiberalMinister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, again, I recommend that my colleague choose his words carefully, because false information and incendiary rhetoric only fan the flames of fear and division.
In Canada, we have a refugee system that we are proud of, but it very clearly comes with eligibility criteria that we respect. Anyone who comes here irregularly is arrested and subjected to a criminal background check.
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Mr. Speaker, Parliament received yet another audit decrying failed leadership with respect to delivering on Canada's 2020 biodiversity targets and the United Nations' sustainable development goals. The Commissioner of the Environment's audit is deeply critical of the current government's fixation on holding meetings, finding that it is basically all talk and no action. She reports a 43% decline in threatened mammals, including the iconic caribou, and a 44% decline in bird life.
When will the government set aside the rhetoric and start taking action to protect threatened species and ensure sustainability?
Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, the member opposite must have been very pleased to see the budget, with its historic $1.3 billion to invest in protecting biodiversity and species at risk. We are absolutely committed to meeting our international targets. We met our marine targets of 7% last year. We are continuing to move forward. We are working with the provinces and territories. I encourage the member opposite to work with us and to work with the provinces and territories so that we can protect more of our land and marine areas.
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Speaker, when the time comes to build the Kinder Morgan pipeline, the Prime Minister is prepared to do anything from getting out the bulldozer to imposing his will on the provinces, and even breaking his promise to apply a credible environmental assessment process. Apparently, this is in the national interest.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of the environment is reporting that the Liberal government is more focused on organizing meetings than on taking concrete action to preserve and protect our biodiversity.
Can the Prime Minister explain how not protecting our biodiversity is in the national interest?
Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, I would be very happy to repeat my answer.
Our government announced a $1.3-billion investment to protect biodiversity and wildlife. This is a historic investment. We have already met our 2017 target for marine protected areas. We are all here because we know we have a duty: Canadians want us to protect our environment and species at risk, and that is what we are going to do.
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the parliamentary budget officer released a report saying that we are going to get something “more” and something “less”. The something “more” is that the Liberal government is going to add $8 billion more to the deficit. The something “less” is that there will be $10 billion less in the economy because of the Liberal carbon tax.
Why is the government creating a situation that is going to erase $10 billion a year from the Canadian economy?
Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, in 2015, Canadians made a choice. They chose a government that recognizes the need to protect our environment and fight climate change, and we can do that while growing our economy.
I am confused, because putting a price on carbon was a Conservative initiative. It means putting a price on something we do not want, namely pollution, in order to grow our economy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and seize the opportunity to promote clean growth. Canadians want us to grow our economy and fight climate change—
Gérard Deltell Conservative Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC
Mr. Speaker, they certainly are attacking change, because they are attacking taxpayers' wallets and the Canadian economy. The economy is going to shrink by $10 billion.
Yesterday, the parliamentary budget officer said the policy will generate a headwind for the Canadian economy.
My question has to do with the economy, so it is for the Minister of Finance.
Will the Minister of Finance stand up and protect taxpayers' wallets and the Canadian economy?
Catherine McKenna LiberalMinister of Environment and Climate Change
Mr. Speaker, I do not know if you—
Catherine McKenna Liberal Ottawa Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise because the environment and the economy go hand in hand. I have some questions for my colleagues opposite.
Do they acknowledge that climate change is real?
Do they acknowledge that we are paying the price in the form of floods, forest fires, and the disappearance of the Arctic?
Do they want to work together to tackle climate change? I do not know. They do not have a plan.
We have a plan, and we will make sure we grow our economy, which is what the Minister of Finance has done. We have good jobs and we are growing the economy.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, my question is for the finance minister. It is about the 200 pages in his budget that relate to the carbon tax and the carbon tax cover-up.
His government is asking Parliament to empower him to impose this tax without telling Canadians what it will cost them. It is kind of like a big blank cheque from Canadian taxpayers.
In the finance minister's budget, how much will the carbon tax cost the average family?
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to respond to the question from the member for Carleton, and to tell him and his colleagues that in fact we will continue to make investments that will grow our economy.
Canadians can see that the program our government has put forward has had a really important, long-term impact on Canadians, so that we are in a much faster growth situation, with many more jobs. The next measures we are taking are going to ensure that in the very long term our environment is strong because we are going to price carbon, ensuring that we have a long-term approach to the environment that continues with great jobs for Canadians.
Pierre Poilievre Conservative Carleton, ON
Mr. Speaker, all right, we are making some progress. We actually got the right minister to stand. Unfortunately, he said that he is making investments to grow the economy, while the Parliamentary Budget Officer says that his carbon tax will actually shrink the economy by $10 billion. Ten billion is one number we do know, but we do not yet know how much this carbon tax would cost the average Canadian family.
Maybe the finance minister will tell us right now.
Bill Morneau LiberalMinister of Finance
Mr. Speaker, what I can tell the House is that the idea that we are making progress, an idea acknowledged by the member for Carleton—
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
Order. The hon. member for Carleton just asked the Minister of Finance to tell the House something. I would ask members to let the Minister of Finance say what he has to say, and then the members on the other side will have a turn in the future when it gets to be their turn again. Each side has its turn, and we listen.
The hon. Minister of Finance.
Bill Morneau Liberal Toronto Centre, ON
Mr. Speaker, as the member for Carleton acknowledged, we are making progress. I think the kind of progress we are seeing in this country is truly astonishing. We have taken from the previous government an economy that was moribund, with stubborn unemployment and very challenging growth rates, and we have turned it around. We find ourselves in a much better situation across the country: more jobs, a better economy. We will keep on this plan.
The Speaker Liberal Geoff Regan
I get the impression that the hon. member for Edmonton West, and some others as well, did not hear what I said a moment ago. I am serious. I ask members not to interrupt when someone else is speaking.
The hon. member for Victoria.
Murray Rankin NDP Victoria, BC
Mr. Speaker, yesterday a media report revealed that there are almost 3,500 federal employees who work on messaging for the Liberal government, 10 times the number of reporters on the Hill. One would think that with so many people, the government would be more transparent. However, access to information requests about important matters of public interest take months, often years, to be processed, and what we get is often so blacked out as to be useless.
Will the government acknowledge the mess it has created and truly modernize, rather than gut, the Access to Information Act?
Scott Brison LiberalPresident of the Treasury Board
Mr. Speaker, after 34 years, we are the first Canadian government to act to modernize and strengthen the Access to Information Act. It is important to recognize that we are the first government to actually give the commissioner order-making power and to apply the Access to Information Act to ministers' offices, to the Prime Minister's Office, and in fact to 240 government organizations. Furthermore, we are going to ensure that it never becomes out of date again, with a mandatory review every five years. We are an open and transparent government.
Matthew Dubé NDP Beloeil—Chambly, QC
Mr. Speaker, five months ago, a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation showed how easy it is to hack a cellphone, track a person's movements, and eavesdrop on conversations.
Telecommunications companies and Public Safety Canada now refuse to answer Canadians' questions. They prefer to meet behind closed doors.
What does the government have to hide, and why is the minister refusing to publicly reassure Canadians?