Debates of May 11th, 2018

Justice

[Marco Mendicino, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada]

Mr. Speaker, our government takes great pride in the renewed judicial appointments process we implemented after being elected.

Let us be clear on the facts. Since taking office, we have appointed 175 judges across the country. In fact, 2017 was a record year, with 100 judges appointed, more than in any government in the last two decades. As a result of this progress, we have a judiciary that includes more women, more diversity, and more judges, all of whom are contributing to a criminal justice system that will keep Canadians safe.

Social Development

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, digital government can enable and empower people while improving service delivery to citizens. In Newmarket—Aurora, people are looking for services from the government that are safe, secure, and easy to use.

Could the President of the Treasury Board please update this House on the government's work to harness world-leading digital technology to benefit all Canadians?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, our government understands digital services should be based on user needs, not government processes. Earlier this year, my parliamentary secretary, the member for Vancouver Quadra, represented Canada as we signed the Digital 7 charter, joining leading digital nations from around the world in a mission to harness digital technology for the benefit of citizens. Working with our D7 partners, we are advancing the best digital principles and practices to put Canadians at the heart of digital service delivery.

Democratic Reform

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals have been talking this week about fair elections while their own MP, the member for Kelowna—Lake Country, was found to be involved in a scheme involving illegal election contributions to his campaign in a conspiracy between the Green Party and the Liberal Party.

We know that the Prime Minister removed a committee chair when he voted in this House in accordance with his conscience. After these election findings, will the Prime Minister ask the MP for Kelowna—Lake Country to step down as chair of the national defence committee?

[Scott Brison, Liberal, President of the Treasury Board]

Mr. Speaker, there is only one party in the House of Commons which has paid a $250,000-fine for breaking election rules, and that is the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party and the Harper Conservatives had the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister taken to jail in ankle chains for breaking election laws. We are cleaning up this mess, we are strengthening Canada's election laws, and we are going to ensure that we respect the integrity of our electoral system.

Intergovernmental Relations

[Monique Pauzé, Québec debout, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this government seems to be getting a high from the disputes between Quebec City and Ottawa. We saw this again yesterday on the cannabis file. The National Assembly is unanimously calling on Ottawa to respect Quebec's independence when it comes to regulating cannabis, and this government could not care less. Today the Minister of Health and the Minister of Justice made matters worse by preaching to the Quebec government in the newspapers. Come on.

Rather than fuelling the dispute, could the government show some respect and recognize that Quebec is entirely within its right to regulate within its borders?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, protecting the health and safety of Canadians is a top priority for our government. Our proposed approach would provide provinces, territories, and municipalities with the flexibility to impose reasonable restrictions on personal cultivation should they wish to do so. However, as our minister has clearly said, there are limits to the extent to which provinces and territories can adapt rules to their circumstances. Our government remains committed to ongoing discussions with provinces to ensure a smooth implementation of federal, provincial, and territorial cannabis legislation and regulatory frameworks.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Québec debout, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we all know why this is called question period and not answer period. The federal government is already downloading the financial burden associated with legal cannabis, taking a huge portion of the taxes, and imposing its own deadline, so is that not enough? Apparently not. When the National Assembly asks for a modicum of respect, this government responds by sending two of its ministers to taunt us in the papers. It is sad to see my colleagues from Quebec endorsing this condescension.

Will the rest of the cabinet put “Cheech and Chong” in their place?

[Bill Blair, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and to the Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear that our government has been engaged in very extensive consultation with law enforcement and health and safety experts through our task force, but we have also been at the table with provinces and territories in a very respectful dialogue on the establishment of the regulatory frameworks that are necessary to protect the health of our citizens, to protect our children, and to displace organized crime.

That dialogue continues. It is a respectful dialogue, and we look forward to working with our provincial and territorial partners as we roll out an orderly implementation of these new regulations to protect all Canadians.

Media Industry

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Quebec community newspaper association, which represents 81 regional newspapers back home, reacted this week to the announcement that La Presse is becoming a not-for-profit organization. Community newspapers such as Le Trait d'union du Nord have concerns about the fact that Ottawa seems more responsive to major financial groups than to our community media, who work hard with limited means to provide topnotch, essential local information. They are worried that private companies are going to end up getting their share.

Will the Minister of Heritage commit to funding Quebec's community media to ensure their survival?

[Mélanie Joly, Liberal, Minister of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague would agree that our media is facing tremendous upheaval that necessarily affects their business models. We are aware of the issue regarding the communities that are underserved. That is why in budget 2018 we allocated $50 million to ensure that we are able to support journalism in these communities.

In fact, at the industry's request, we also announced in the same budget that our government would look at new models to allow for donations to be made to the media. In addition to all these measures, we are investing $14 million in our media—

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Order. That marks the end of question period for today.

The hon. member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles is rising on a point of order.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said once again this morning that the Conservative government cut the border services budget by $350 million. This is not true.

I have a report from the Library of Parliament that says the opposite. I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House to table this report.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, Liberal, Anthony Rota]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to table this report?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

No.

Interparliamentary Delegations

[Bob Nault, Liberal, Kenora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to present to the House, in both official languages, a report from the Canadian section of ParlAmericas respecting its participation at the ParlAmericas interparliamentary meeting “Partnerships to Transform Gender Relations”, held in Kingston, Jamaica, from January 24 to 25, 2018.

Canada Summer Jobs Program

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

Mr. Speaker, all Canadians enjoy freedom of conscience, belief, and thought. The government's requirement that organizations applying for the Canada summer jobs program sign an attestation stating that they agree with all the policies of the Liberal government is a violation of those fundamental rights. I have heard from thousands of constituents who are upset that the government would violate these rights of Canadians. Many organizations that do wonderful work with youth through our communities were made ineligible for this program as a result of the requirement.

Therefore, I table this petition today calling on the government to remove that attestation requirement from the Canada summer jobs program and ensure that Canadians enjoy their rights to freedom of thought and belief.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise to present a petition from my constituents in Oshawa, who are also worried about freedom of thought and conscience. They are concerned about the Liberals' manipulation of the summer jobs program and the attestation test. In Oshawa, this primarily affects faith-based organizations that hire students in order to provide summer camps, day camps, and day programs, mostly for low-income families, which are often provided at no charge.

The petitioners are concerned that denying funding to Canadians simply because they have a belief that is different from that of the government of the day is a huge precedent. They are worried about what is next, such as discrimination in other government programs like pensions, government jobs, welfare, or charitable status.

Sex Selection

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have three different petitions to present today.

The first one is on behalf of constituents who are very concerned about sex-selected abortion. A CBC documentary revealed that ultrasounds are being used in Canada to tell the sex of an unborn child so that the expecting parents can choose to terminate the pregnancy if the unborn child is a girl. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada and the Canadian Association of Radiologists strongly oppose the non-medical use of fetal ultrasounds. There are over 200 million girls missing worldwide, and the three deadliest words in the world are “It's a girl.”

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Canadian Parliament to condemn discrimination against girls occurring through sex-selected pregnancy termination.

Canada Summer Jobs Program

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I also have a petition with regard to the Canada summer jobs program. The petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to defend the rights of all Canadians, regardless of whether the current Liberal government agrees with the specific views held by individual Canadians.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Prime Minister to defend the freedoms of conscience, thought, and belief, and to withdraw the attestation requirement completely for applicants to the Canada summer jobs program.

Public Safety

[Cathay Wagantall, Conservative, Yorkton—Melville, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I have one more. This petition is with regard to Bill C-71, an act to amend certain acts and regulations in relation to firearms. These individuals say that the bill does nothing to tackle firearms violence but rather adds further red tape for law-abiding firearm owners. It does not provide the resources to front-line police forces to tackle the true source of firearms violence, which is gangs and organized criminal presence.

The petitioners call upon the House of Commons to scrap Bill C-71, an act to amend certain acts and regulations in relation to firearms, and instead devote greater resources to policing in Canada.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, if the government's response to Questions Nos. 1610 to 1614 could be made orders for returns, these returns would be tabled immediately.

Question No. 1610-

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC]

With regard to government aircraft being used to transport Senators between March 20, 2018, and March 24, 2018: (a) what are the details of any flight segment on a government owned aircraft in which a Senator was a passenger, including (i) date, (ii) list of passengers, (iii) origin, (iv) destination, (v) type of aircraft; and (b) what are the details of each flight segment which immediately preceded the segments in (a), including, (i) date, (ii) list of passengers, (iii) origin, (iv) destination?

(Return tabled)

Question No. 1611-

[Sheri Benson, NDP, Saskatoon West, SK]

With regard to Canada’s National Housing Strategy announced in November 2017: (a) what meetings, if any, have taken place between the Minister, Parliamentary Secretary or departmental officials, including Ministerial Exempt Staff, and representatives from provincial and territorial governments, and what are the details of all meetings related to the National Housing Strategy, including (i) dates, (ii) lists of attendees, (iii) locations, (iv) agendas; (b) what meetings, if any, have taken place between the Minister, Parliamentary Secretary or departmental officials, including Ministerial Exempt Staff, and representatives from municipal governments, and what are the details of all meetings related to the National Housing Strategy, including (i) dates, (ii) lists of attendees, (iii) locations, (iv) agendas; (c) which social, affordable and non-profit housing providers have received correspondence from the Minister, Parliamentary Secretary, or departmental officials, including Ministerial Exempt Staff, regarding the implementation of measures contained in the National Housing Strategy, and what are the details contained in the information disseminated, including (i) dates, (ii) senders, (iii) recipients, (iv) titles, (v) subjects, (vi) summaries, (vii) file numbers; (d) what are the names and addresses of the social, affordable and non-profit housing providers in (c); (e) what information has been provided to provincial, territorial and municipal governments regarding the details of implementing the measures announced in the National Housing Strategy, and what are the details contained in the information disseminated, including (i) dates, (ii) senders, (iii) recipients, (iv) titles, (v) subjects, (vi) summaries, (vii) file numbers; (f) what meetings, if any, have taken place between the Minister, Parliamentary Secretary or departmental officials, including Ministerial Exempt Staff, and representatives from social, affordable and non-profit housing providers, and what are the details of all meetings related to the National Housing Strategy, including (i) dates,(ii) lists of attendees, (iii) locations, (iv) agendas; and (g) if no meetings have taken place, what is the timeline for such meetings to occur for each of these groups?