Debates of May 29th, 2018

Public Services and Procurement

[Carla Qualtrough, Liberal, Minister of Public Services and Procurement]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Auditor General for his report. We are accepting all of his recommendations.

This is one of the most studied government projects in the history of the Government of Canada. We called in the Auditor General and had two reports performed, third party reports. We know very clearly what happened. The former government treated this as a cost-cutting measure, instead of the government-wide initiative that it so clearly was. The Conservatives set this project up to fail, and now they are paying the consequences publicly. Shame on all of them.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. I remind members, including the hon. member for Calgary Signal Hill, the hon. member for Abbotsford, and the hon. member for Parry Sound—Muskoka, that the time to speak is when they have the floor.

The hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent.

Natural Resources

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

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals' track record on energy matters is nothing short of disastrous. Since they took office, the energy sector has lost 125,000 jobs and over $60 billion in investment.

What is the Liberal government's miracle solution? Take money from taxpayers and buy a Texas company for $4.5 billion. That is the Liberal solution.

My question for my friend, the Minister of Finance, is very simple. A fat lot of good Bay Street experience does us. Why is he making such bad decisions?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, experience is always an advantage. What we can say is that it is very important to consider our experience under the Harper government. The Conservatives did nothing. That is what we know from experience. At this time, we have decided that it is very important to have the courage to invest in a project that is in the national interest. It is clear that we need to invest now so that, in the future, the private sector can participate in a project that will benefit Canadians.

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

Mr. Speaker, this is unbelievable. We are talking about $4.5 billion of taxpayers' money going to a company in Texas. Not even J. R. Ewing would have dreamed of this, and yet that is what the Liberal government is doing.

What is the Liberal government's track record when it comes to investments? Since those folks have been in power, American investment in Canada has dropped by 50%, while Canadian investments in the U.S. have increased by 66%.

Seriously, how can the Minister of Finance claim to be an authority on investments?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, here are the facts. In 2017, investments in Canada grew by 8%. That is a fact. However, we know that it is very important to have a strong resource sector for the future. That is why we decided to invest in the Trans Mountain project. It is very important for our future and for growing our economy. We are talking about $15 billion every year. That is what Canadians living in British Columbia, Alberta, and across the country stand to gain.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, let us be clear about one thing. This $4.5 billion handout of taxpayers' money will not build one inch of new pipeline. In fact, every penny will go into the pockets of a Texas oil company, which it will then take to build pipelines outside of Canada in competition with our industry.

How did we go from that company wanting to invest $7 billion in Canada to sending $4 billion of taxpayers' money out of this country?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, we are buying the assets of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline that are currently there, and the opportunity to expand that pipeline. These assets create value. We are buying assets that create value. What we are going to do is to create more value by ensuring that the project gets done. These advantages are going to help our natural resources sector. They are also going to help our broader economy and create jobs across the country.

We know it is the right thing to do. We will get this project done.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

Mr. Speaker, what he did was spend over $4 billion on a pipeline that Canadians have had for over 60 years. We get absolutely nothing new with this, except a lot of financial risk, and $7 billion that was going to be invested by a private sector company has now vanished into thin air.

I have a very simple question: How much will it cost taxpayers to actually build the expansion, or is this all just a pipe dream?

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, fundamental to what we are doing is actually buying assets that were owned by someone else, so that we can actually make sure this project happens.

Of course, we want to make sure that we get the appropriate value for Canadians, and so there is commercially sensitive information. As we look towards how we might move this project into the private sector, we need to recognize that it is commercially sensitive.

Canadians will have a full understanding and transparency with regard to this project, and what it will do is create advantages for our economy and for jobs across the country.

Consumer Protection

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Speaker, we now have reports of two of Canada's largest banks saying that hackers have breached the private information of up to 90,000 Canadian consumers. This is just months after the data breaches at Uber, Equifax, and Bell Canada, which affected tens of thousands of Canadians and their private information.

The European Union took action and implemented new data protection last week. What did the Liberal government do? Absolutely nothing. In fact, this government has not even followed through on basic recommendations.

When will the Liberals take action to protect Canadian consumers with a digital bill of rights and stop letting these companies off the hook?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, the member knows full well that we brought changes to the regulations to update PIPEDA, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. These regulatory changes are very important, because if any private entity, a bank or otherwise, suffers lost or stolen data, they must report it immediately to the individual and to the Privacy Commissioner. Failure to do so will lead to an infraction and a fine of $100,000 per data breach. That is a significant cost per data breach. It is an important signal that we are sending to protect the privacy of Canadians.

Air Transportation

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, in the absence of a real air passengers' bill of rights, a U.S. firm told us that Canadian travellers are being gouged to the tune of $65 million a year.

We are familiar with the strategy. When the Minister of Transport cannot make a decision, he launches consultations.

Why bother with a consultation when the European charter is leading the way and the minister has already taken a position by rejecting the amendments proposed in the House and in the Senate? Does the minister take travellers for fools?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, every Canadian knows that buying an airline ticket entitles the purchaser to a certain level of treatment. That is why we are very proud of bringing in air passenger rights.

They were announced in Bill C-49 and we also announced that we were going to consult Canadians. Some 13 million Canadians travel by plane. It is the right thing to do and the Canadian Transportation Agency initiated the process yesterday.

Natural Resources

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians elected our government in part because of our commitment to help strengthen and grow our economy, to help the middle class, and to create well-paying jobs for Canadians.

Can the Minister of Finance share with this House how today's decision to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline and related assets will help to uphold this commitment?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order, order.

[Bill Morneau, Liberal, Minister of Finance]

Mr. Speaker, it is great that we have at least one Alberta member of Parliament who is supporting Albertans.

What I know is that the member for Edmonton Centre and the other members of the Liberal Party support this project, because we recognize that what we are bringing to Albertans are huge advantages, advantages in terms of their economy—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Speaker, Liberal, Geoff Regan]

Order. The hon. member for Carleton will come to order. There is far too much noise in the House. Members and I are having trouble hearing the questions and the answers, especially the answers. Members will come to order. Order.

The hon. member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

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

Mr. Speaker, like her Liberal Prime Minister, the Minister of International Development and La Francophonie is saying that illegal migrants are welcome, but the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship is saying that they are not. Who is telling the truth? What is the government going to do with these illegal migrants?

Meanwhile, businesses in Sainte-Justine, Sainte-Claire, and Saint-Anselme have been waiting a long time for the arrival of legal immigrants.

When will the Liberal government stop the wave of illegal immigration at the border?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Harper Conservatives a question.

Yesterday, the member for Milton said that 600 people had crossed the border illegally. I would like to know where she got that information, because I do not have the same numbers. It is wrong to tell untruths in the House. I would like to know where she got that number.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is simple. Illegal migrants are coming from all over the world.

The Liberals could have cut the budget, and that is what they did, in fact. The Liberals cut the Canada Border Services Agency's budget by $302 million. They reduced the number of border guards. They also cut $30 million from the budget of those responsible for stopping illegal immigration.

If the Liberals are serious about this, when will they deal with this problem and put a stop to this wave of illegal immigration at the border?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the Harper Conservatives, who gutted our immigration system, we are investing $173 million to strengthen security at the Canada-U.S. border—